Minnesota and Nebraska will see a cold blast on December 24, 2018, and Atlanta, Florida, in the upcoming arctic front on December 24
Bitter cold, biting wind and heavy snow are expected across the U.S. this week, forecasters say, imposing treacherous travel conditions just days before Christmas.
Wind chill warnings are in place for parts of Montana, the Dakotas and portions of Minnesota and Nebraska where wind chills could fall as low as 60 degrees below zero.
The wind chill advisory continues until Thursday. It is not just for Montana and it lasts five whole days to start the winter season.
It’s that time of year again when everyone hates Florida – the only real warm spot across the country – but only for the next few days, since Florida will also cool down by the end of the week.
On Monday, Atlanta will see a high temperature near 50 degrees, but come Friday, that high temperature may not even reach 30 degrees. Denver goes from a high of 46 degrees on Monday to a high of only 14 on Thursday.
The season’s lowest temperatures could be reached by Friday. Even northern Florida cities like Jacksonville and Tallahassee could see a chill as low as 20 F on Christmas Eve.
Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Tallahassee, Florida, are likely to have their lowest high temperature ever recorded on December 24, according to the National Weather Service.
The incoming arctic front brings “extreme and prolonged freezing conditions for southern Mississippi and southeast Louisiana,” the National Weather Service in a special weather statement Sunday.
Ice fishing will continue through the cold blast, since the temperatures won’t scare away anglers there — “not the hard-core ones anyway,” said Jason Mundel, who runs the Ripp’n Lipps Guide Service in northeastern Montana.
Mundel said it was 4 degrees there Sunday night, and a coyote contest was still going on in a nearby community. “Those guys are just out in the elements, just bundled up,” he said.
New Hampshire Deputy Attorney General David P. Pereira reported that a woman with mental health issues was found dead outside a Greyhound bus station
A woman with severe mental health issues was found dead in Atlanta hours after he went to check on her. He said that her body was found outside the Greyhound bus station which is open 24 hours a day.
He claims that people battling alcoholism, drugs, or mental illness who are without housing are more likely to die in freezing weather because they find themselves on the streets rather than a shelter.
Frank Pereira with the National Weather Service said the heavy, wet snow had an impact on both travel and infrastructure.
The police in New England had to deal with hundreds of crashes this weekend. Maine State Police responded to more than 180 crashes since Friday evening. There were no serious injuries.
Vermont officials are looking for locations for potential warming centers in the worst hit areas. Some customers might not have power restored for two to three days.
“Last night we had some people come in who weren’t able to cook for themselves, and so we definitely made sure that we had room for them,” Becket Gourlay, a host at the Waterhouse Restaurant in Peterborough, N.H., said on Sunday. “Even today we had some people who came in to watch the final match for the World Cup because their TVs were out.”
CNN Weather Brief: Snow and Wind in the Great Lakes and Interior of the U.S. during the December 18-24 Break-out, with Snow on Thursday and Saturday
CNN releases a version of this article on Mondays, called the CNN Weather Brief. You can receive them every week and during storms.
The ominous warning comes as the storm continues to bear down with blizzard conditions from the Great Lakes and interior Northeast, bringing the double threat of heavy snow and speedy winds.
On Wednesday, snow is likely to follow in parts of Nebraska, Kansas and the Dakotas. By Thursday, blizzard conditions could hit the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions.
• Whiteout conditions: Blizzard conditions may exist even if snowfall stops, because high winds can pick up snow already on the ground and cause low visibility.
As the winds are expected to get as high as 50 mph on Friday, power will be an issue for the city. The storm will only get worse, as the wind chills will go as low as 20 degrees below zero.
• Brutal cold elsewhere: Philadelphia and Pittsburgh will also see their coldest day Christmas Eve ever on Saturday. Washington, DC had its second-coldest on Christmas Eve in 1989. The Christmas Eve temperature in NYC is expected to plunge to its lowest level since 1906. Chicago is expecting temperatures to rebound above zero but will still experience its coldest Christmas Eve since 1983.
“It’s night in the northern hemisphere Arctic regions and there’s snow and ice covering that entire area. So, you’ve basically got a source freezer sitting up there in the Arctic polar regions,” Greg Carbin, branch chief at the prediction center said. “It’s sort of the Polar Express and the cold air can hold on to those characteristics because there’s a lot of snow cover on the ground, even across the north-central United States.”
What is going on in the Northeast? A forecast for two weeks of precipitation and a possibility of more than 30 inches of snow on Tuesday
“The bottom line is travel will be very dangerous and could be LIFE-THREATENING later this week so be prepared to alter travel plans now!” the weather service said.
The temperature in Nashville and Memphis will fall on Friday. Nashville will only get to 16 degrees on Friday with 25 mph winds. They will only hit 26 on Christmas Day. Memphis could see their coldest Christmas since 1985 with a forecast high of 28.
The storm will bomb out Friday night into Saturday morning, making this a bomb cyclone before entering the Northeast and New England. A bomb cyclone is when the storm drops 24 millibars in pressure in 24 hours.
In areas that are currently seeing snow, I-95 getting a lot of deep rain can be a problem. Some of the water can melt, even some flooding.
Millions of people will have a white Christmas because of this major storm. Some areas were already a given, considering there was snow already on the ground and the cold temperatures keeping it there.
There’s a chance the DC area will get at least one inch of snow on Christmas Day. I would be willing to increase that probability to 30% or more in the next couple of days if the pattern comes together the way I think it will.
The mountains of Washington state are likely to see the largest amount of snow, but lowlands in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming will likely get more than a foot of snow. There could be a blast of ice and snow on Thursday.
The NWS says low visibility on top of snow covered roads will create even more dangerous travel conditions. Potential power outages from the Midwest to the Northeast could be caused by the strong winds.
The polar front caused over 600 delays and over 200 cancellations at airports across the US as of Tuesday morning, but air travel appeared to be unaffected.
Over one million customers across the US are having their power cut due to winter weather and frigid temperatures. Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania have the most outages.
Frostbite is another risk for those trying to brave the cold, the NWS says. Subzero temperatures in some parts of the U.S. this week could lead to frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.
Those venturing outside should dress in layers, cover their skin and change into dry clothing as soon as possible. Experts say the best prevention is to stay inside.
Weather-related traffic disruptions in the Long Island Rail Road, New York, Long Beach, and Kansas City, where a vehicle lost control of an icy roadway Thursday afternoon
Hundreds of miles of road have been closed and hundreds of flights have been canceled because of the disruptions. Flooding on the Long Island Rail Road in New York temporarily shut down part of the Long Beach branch.
Mick felt that Christmas was canceled since the weather was expected to last through Sunday morning. “All family and friends agreed it’s safer this way.”
In north-central Kansas, three people were killed in separate car crashes on Wednesday evening; one death was confirmed to be weather-related, and two were believed to be weather-related but need more investigation, according to Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson Lt. Candice Breshears.
In Kansas City, Missouri, one person died after losing control of their vehicle on icy roads Thursday afternoon, according to the Kansas City Police Department. Police said the vehicle went down the embankment and landed upside down in the creek.
“The National Weather Service’s Watch Warning graphic depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever,” the agency said Thursday.
“I called it a kitchen sink storm because it is throwing everything at us but the kitchen sink,” Hochul said at a press conference Friday afternoon. “We’ve had ice, flooding, snow, freezing temperatures, and everything that mother nature could wallop at us this weekend.”
For Brian Trzeciak, the storm was “living up to the warnings” at his home in Hamburg, New York. Buffalo’s airport, just to the north, reported zero visibility shortly after noon on Friday.
Snow, Ice and Frost on Christmas Eve: Emergency Measures in Oregon, Alaska, and Washington, Washington, and the Seattle-Tacoma Airport
“My mother lives about 30 minutes away and so does my sister and her family, in the other direction,” he said. “We always get together for Christmas Eve and Christmas, but we’re all hunkering down in our houses until it all stops on Monday.”
Governors in at least 13 states, including Georgia and North Carolina in the South, have implemented emergency measures to respond to the storm. Declarations of a state of emergency in several states have included the activation of National Guard units.
At 7:30 p.m., nearly 5,300 Friday flights had been canceled, after nearly 2,700 on Thursday.
A winter storm warning is also in effect for northeastern Oregon, including Portland, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. PST. There will be total snow and sleet accumulations of up to one inch along with ice accretions of.2 to.4 inches. Wind chills as low as zero are possible, and frostbite is possible on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes.
The ice caused the closure of runways at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where nearly half of flights going into and out of the airport were canceled, according to FlightAware. All express services for Sound Transit were suspended on Friday because of the icy conditions.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are waking up in the dark to unlit trees on Christmas Eve, after destructive winds and heavy snow from a winter storm tore down power lines and endangered drivers across the country, killing at least 11 people in its path.
At least 11 people have been killed this week in four states due to unsafe conditions over a large swath of the country.
Kentucky had three deaths that were caused by the storm, two of which were car crashes, Gov. Andy Beshear said. An autopsy is required to determine the cause of death for the man whose body was found outside, police said.
Hundreds of drivers across multiple states needed to be rescued this week. Some states have stopped drivers from driving on the highways. More than 10,000 flights were delayed or canceled Friday.
“If you do lose power, it’s going to be dangerous and you need to seek out warming shelters,” said the commissioner of New York’s Homeland Security and Emergency Services. “Please don’t assume that you can weather this cold overnight without heat. You might not be able to.
Heavy rain falling on a melting snow will cause both coastal and inland flooding in the Northeast. There is a chance of moderate to isolated major coastal flooding due to strong winds.