Residents across the country from the Northern Plains to the tip of Maine are bracing for dangerously low temperatures as tens of millions of residents along the East Coast contend with a thick blanket of snow — and more snowfall in the forecast.
Winter storm warnings issued by the National Weather Service were in effect for parts of the Mid-Atlantic through Monday morning, and warnings began in New England on Sunday afternoon. Heavy lake-effect snow was expected in western New York state Monday through Wednesday morning, with 2 to 3 feet (about 60 to 90 centimeters) possible in some areas including Oswego along Lake Ontario.
Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, projected that as many as 70 million residents will be under some kind of winter storm warning in the coming days.
Return of the Arctic blast
Sunday snowfall was just the start of a chaotic week of weather. Much of the Eastern Seaboard will be enduring some of the coldest temperatures this winter.
An area from the Rockies into the Northern Plains will see colder than normal weather over several days, with temperatures forecast to drop to between minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 degrees Celsius) to minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 48 degrees Celsius) on Monday. Sub-zero wind chills are forecast to reach as far south as Oklahoma and the Tennessee Valley.
Minnesota residents were urged to wear appropriate clothing and carry a survival kit for travel. Kristi Rollwagen, director of homeland security and emergency management at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, also urged motorists to drive with a full tank of gas and a fully charged cellphone to keep in touch with loved ones.
“It’s not something we haven’t experienced before, it’s just a good reminder that it does get cold in Minnesota,” Rollwagen said.
Meanwhile, temperatures in Washington, D.C., are expected to dip into the 20s (about minus 7 C to minus 1 C) with wind gusts upwards of 30 mph (48 kph), Chenard said. The forecast prompted President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural ceremony to be moved inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
Like earlier this month, this latest cold snap comes from a disruption in the polar vortex, the ring of cold air usually trapped about the North Pole.
The cold air will moderate as it moves southward and eastward, but the Central and Eastern U.S. will still experience temperatures in the teens and 20s Monday into Tuesday, Chenard said. The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast also will have highs in the teens and 20s, lows in the single digits and below zero degrees F (minus 18 C), and wind chills below zero.
Unusual mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain
The colder temperatures will dip into the South early this week, where as many as 30 million people starting Monday could see a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. The unusual conditions are expected to stretch from Texas into northern Florida and the Carolinas. Impacts are expected starting Monday night in Texas and then spreading across the Gulf Coast and Southeast on Tuesday into Wednesday.
Frigid air combined with a low-pressure system over the Gulf is behind the storm, which could bring heavy snow just south of the Interstate 20 corridor across northern Louisiana and into Mississippi and a mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain near the Interstate 10 corridor from Houston to Mobile, Alabama.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on Saturday issued a state of emergency ahead of the severe weather, urging residents to prepare and keep watch on the forecast.
