The nation's weather

Weather Underground midday recap for Wednesday, February 27, 2013. A strong storm continued moving through the eastern half of the country Wednesday as it moved from the Ohio Valley into the Great Lakes. This storm carried significant moisture northward with it, and produced widespread snow from Iowa through the Northeast. There were reports of 6 foot snow drifts in Wisconsin as the freshly fallen snow was blown around by strong winds that accompanied the storm. Some of the precipitation associated with the storm fell as rain along coastal areas of New England.

The aforementioned storm represented the only significant storm in the country on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, mostly dry conditions fell from the West Coast through the Plains. The one exception to this was some high elevation snow from Colorado through Montana.

California continued its dry streak during a season that has seen record low amounts of precipitation for the first two months of the year.

A big change is in store for for the middle of the country for the remainder of the week as a cold, Arctic air mass is set to plunge into the middle of the country.

The Northeast rose into the 30s and 40s, while the Southeast saw temperatures in the 60s and 70s. The Northern Plains rose into the 20s and 30s, while the Northwest saw temperatures in the 40s and 50s.

Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Wednesday have ranged from a morning low of -11 degrees at Gunnison, Colo. to a midday high of 84 degrees at Naples, Fla.