An EF-4 tornado ripped through the suburbs of St. Louis late Friday evening, as part of a line of storms stretching across the midwest that dropped massive hail, caused damaging straight-line winds, spawned several tornadoes, and exacerbated flooding across the Ohio River.

Folks along the east coast of New England are hearing more and more from their local weather stations about a possible blizzard due to blow in on Sunday -- in the Boston area, a "blizzard warning" has been issued effective from noon Sunday until early Monday evening.

The large-scale snow-storm -- which still has a chance of missing the area, or scaling back in size, duration and scope -- would certainly count as a harbinger of the arrival of a real New England winter.

Be safe out there, folks, if you've got to be out and about. If you're in New England, in an area affected by the storm, and if you are staying in, stay warm.

And to all, the countdown until New Year's eve has begun -- are you ready for 2011?