Tropical Storm Sonia is churning in the Pacific Ocean and isn’t threatening land. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm formed over the weekend and on Monday was about 965 miles southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

Chicago-area residents aren’t strangers to tough winters, but could a phenomenon called “The Blob” make things snowier and colder than usual?

Water temperatures several degrees above normal span thousands of miles, though they have mostly stopped short of the Pacific Northwest coast. Cool water welling up from the depths is thought to be keeping surface temperatures near the Oregon and Washington coasts closer to normal.