Gray-overcast and cold this early Friday on California’s north coast, yet supposedly doesn’t spell what’s coming, weather-wise — sunshine and warmth, maybe up into the mid-70s by Sunday.

Meanwhile: Bob Henson at WunderBlog yesterday afternoon: ‘The next winter storm will intensify into a powerhouse east of New England on Thursday and Friday, with surface pressure deepening quickly enough (more than 24 mb in 24 hours) to qualify the nor’easter as a “bomb.”‘

The Weather Channel has named the monster storm, ‘Neptune’ — past storms Juno, Marcus, Linus, all in there somewhere, figure — with all indications another heavy-snow, brutal-cold kind of system that’s been blasting across the US upper-eastern seaboard the past month. Boston has already broken its snowfall record for February — that says a lot considering the calender.
Maybe even more a-coming (via the Boston Globe): ‘Forecasters warned that late Saturday into Sunday traveling could be “difficult, if not impossible.”‘

WunderBlog‘s Henson noted this morning:

After focusing its wrath on New England for three weeks, winter is about to start expanding its reach.
A packet of upper-level energy diving from the Canadian Arctic into the eastern U.S. this weekend will be accompanied by a strong surface high racing southward.
The contrast in pressure between this high and the next powerful nor’easter off the New England coast will fuel an expansive area of howling northwest winds and dangerous cold.
From northern Ohio across western New York, Sunday could be the coldest day recorded in at least 20 years and the coldest February day in many decades.
…
Another winter storm appears likely to affect a much broader swath of the nation early next week, with a patchwork of snow, freezing rain, and sleet developing from Oklahoma and Texas to the Carolinas.
This system may congeal into yet another bombshell nor’easter later in the week, perhaps accompanied by another shot of frigid air on par with this weekend’s, although uncertainty remains high at this point.
Temperatures in New York may not reach the freezing mark for at least the next week.

Contrast with heat glowing out here, as the West Coast experiences unusual warmth for this time of year.
via SFGate:

“It wasn’t like this when I was kid,” said Nicole Burke, 36, who grew up in San Francisco and on Thursday took her 2-year-old son, James, to sunny Baker Beach.
“It used to rain from December to March. Never was it in the 70s and dry so much this time of year.”
…
While San Francisco is expected to top out in the low 70s, Pebble Beach and Santa Cruz could see 80 degrees over the next few days, according to the National Weather Service.
San Jose and Oakland are expected to hover in the mid-70s.
“We’re going to be in record territory all the way through Saturday,” said Steve Anderson, forecaster for the weather service.

Decades ago, I was in the restaurant business for a few years, and came to understand the three main ingredients to the success of any eatery — location, location, location.
So I guess, the same for weather.

(Illustration above: M.C.Escher’s ‘Reptiles‘ found here)