Two-thirds of the US is expected to experience frigid temperatures this week as a storm system moves eastward. Many Americans are planning to travel during the holidays, so the timing couldn't be worse. As brutal cold blankets the country, those journeys may become perilous.
The NWS forecast said that it was a good way to start the official start of winter. The NWS updated its forecast this morning to warn of a wide range of disruptive and potentially devastating impacts.
With numerous winter weather hazards impacting a majority of the Nation, it's a great way to start the official start of the winter season.
There is an extremely cold air mass moving in from the north. According to experts, the conditions are similar to the Great Blizzard of 1978 More accurate warnings can now be issued earlier than in the past. Hopefully, that will give people enough time to be prepared. The storm system has a lot of punches, from rapidly dropping temperatures to dangerous winds.
Jonathan Martin, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that there won't be a like of this storm again in 25 or so years. The impacts will be extraordinary in some places.
The US is facing a record breaking cold air mass. The sun set at the north pole. The northern part of the planet is dark in the winter. The air is not warm because there is no sun to warm it. At this time of year, you can produce cold air mass.
A narrow band high up in the atmosphere of strong winds that blow from west to east gave that cold air mass a ride south. A roller coaster ride is what the jet stream is doing. It is picking up the cold airmass from western parts of Canada and driving it south across the Great Plains and Great Lakes, according to the chief of the forecast operations branch at the weather prediction center.
The jet stream pattern we are seeing is very similar to the one we saw in 1978. Hundreds of thousands of homes in the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region were without power and heat that year. The National Weather Service says that this once-in-a-lifetime storm will always be the standard by which the severities of all future winter storms to hit this region are judged.
The storm's hallmark was rapid temperature drops and devastating wind. Within a few hours, the leading edge of the cold air mass, the cold front, is moving across the central High Plains. The temperature dropped from 27 degrees to 3 degrees within 15 minutes. There is a risk of ice building up on streets and roads when the temperature drops quickly. A number of temperature records could be set in the next few days.
There are a number of daily temperature records that could be set in the next few days.
The temperature difference between the cold front and the warmer air creates a perfect recipe for a powerful storm. The storm is expected to intensify quickly enough to be considered a "bomb cyclone", which is when atmospheric pressure in the center of a storm drops over 24 hours. A low-pressure system is also referred to as a cyclone.
The storm system is expected to have wind gusts over 60 mph. It is a dangerous combination with moderate snow. Travel will be impossible ahead of the holiday weekend due to the power being knocked out. It will feel even more cold outside. There is a chance of wind chill as low as minus 70 degrees in parts of the Great Plains. The NWS says that exposure to wind chill can cause frostbite in less than 5 minutes. There are wind chill warnings in more than 30 states.
An associate professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences at the University of Albany says that the scale of the storm is much larger than a nor'Easter or Midwest storm. Scientists are expected to descend upon the dynamics of the storm. She says the conditions surrounding the storm are a good example of how to intensify storms.
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