The Springs fire in Riverside county has grown to 3,500 acres, prompting local authorities to issue several evacuation orders. The fire is concentrated in an area mostly north and east of Lake Perris, burning portions of the surrounding state recreation area.
"This is going to help fill that gap in minutes to hours lead time that's vital to know where the heaviest rain is going to hit," Ralph said. "And when and what communities are going to be affected so people in the preparedness community and water resource management community can take action to help protect people's lives and property."
Successive punches of snow, wind and severe weather are "going to impact the eastern half of the United States," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tyler Roys said in an interview. Beyond the threat to lives and property, "whether it's wind gusts from a squall line, blizzard or snow, or just wind because of the storm, you're looking at several major airports being impacted."
The storm from Sunday into Monday has the potential to become a bomb cyclone, which occurs when central pressure drops at least 0.71 inches of mercury (24 millibars) in 24 hours or less. That rapid strengthening would generate an expansive and intense wind field.
A deep area of low pressure to the south-east of New Zealand's North Island swept into the region on Sunday, bringing heavy rain, gale-force winds and dangerous coastal swells that lashed exposed shorelines. The storm triggered power outages, forced evacuations and damaged infrastructure, with further impacts likely on Monday as the system lingers for a time, before tracking southwards later.
"It will prove cold with some frost and ice in places on Friday morning, especially in the west and north," she said. "Munster and south Leinster will see cloud, but that will clear to leave dry and sunny conditions with a few isolated showers in the north and highest temperatures of 3C to 7C," she said. Friday night will prove mainly dry but very cold and frosty with some icy patches.
While it may be tempting to turn the dial to warm your home more quickly, thermostats only control the final temperature the room reaches not the speed of heating so turning it up does not warm rooms faster and is unlikely to make any difference beyond causing your energy bills to soar. Read our full story below. Shaheena Uddin8 January 2026 06:00 Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said Storm Goretti will bring "wet, windy and wintry weather" to parts of the UK.
To help support people during cold snaps like what we are currently experiencing, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) runs the cold weather payment scheme for qualifying households. This is a one-off payment of 25 that is triggered for every seven-day period where the temperature in an area is at or below zero degrees. An estimated 674,000 households across over 441 postcode areas can now expect a payment.
