The impenetrable leading wall of winter
While putting forth the synoptic analysis last night, I mentioned that the jet producing the cold front in the eastern portion of the country was very, very strong. This means that there is likely some cold air behind it. If you are following Twitter Tuesday (for Raleigh! Follow @victoriawxtimes!) you know that Raleigh is seeing temperatures in the upper 70s. If you live in the center of the country, your temperatures are considerably warmer, to the point that there is snow falling over parts of Minnesota and the Dakotas.
That kind of temperature change usually is well manifest on radar, as it currently is:
That wall of water set up from Pennsylvania to Texas is quite obviously the front. Temperatures are like night and day on either side of the boundary, and the cold pool behind the front is very efficient in it's production of wet weather. There is an upper level low over Texas (it was over Mexico yesterday) that is kicking off some severe storms for the Houston and east Texas area, but the boundary is much more laminar to the north and east.
Yesterday, however, there was an eddy along the front that kicked up some stronger storms over Illinois, Indiana and eventually Pennsylvnia and New York:
Fortunately, the wall of winter has worked out the kinks and is now just pressing forth with rain. A lot of rain. Snow isn't too far behind.