November Pain: 15 States Below Zero, Half U.S. Snow Covered
UPDATE 11/18: Today is the coldest November day since 1976 (source).
UPDATE 11/18: It was, in fact, worse than the models indicated. 15 states are waking up with below zero readings this morning, according to the HRRR analysis, and all 50 have spots below freezing (yes, even Hawaii). At Mount Mitchell in North Carolina, it's 0 degrees Fahrenheit this November 18th morning.
And near Buffalo, New York: 32.4" of snow in the last 24 hours!
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ORIGINAL BLOG: 11/18/2014: The second shot of reinforcing cold air from last week's 50-degree-below-normal polar vortex invasion is on its way -- and this time it will dip to the Gulf of Mexico. Low temperatures tonight will be below zero (light pink) in at least 11 states (Idaho and Utah showed <0 earlier in the forecast), with below-freezing temperatures (light blue) reaching into the Florida Panhandle.
In addition, 50.4% of the nation has snow on the ground this morning, excluding only the Southeast states (although some of the highest spots in NC had snow on the ground yesterday). NOHRSC says the previous record (last 10 years) for this date was 20% in 2005 (and in fact, for any date in the first half of this month, only Nov. 12, 2012, stands out, at 31.5%).*
ABC news also says that ice is forming on Lake Superior, something that's not supposed to happen until early to mid-December. Tonight, things may be even worse than the 4-KM NMM model forecast map above -- James Spann tweeted that the low tonight in Birmingham, Alabama, could be in the teens!
And the AccuWeather RealFeel temperatures? Don't get me started. Near zero for most of the Northeast tomorrow night:
Add to that up to 4 feet of snow (we're conservatively saying three), and it's a pre-Thanksgiving winter party. Don't forget: "Over the River and Through the Woods" was written about Boston during the Little Ice Age. If it seems like we may be going into another one, don't look at these graphs. It makes me wonder if I should start writing my Global Cooling Fan Fiction again.
*NOHRSC records are sometimes not accurate due to satellite misinterpretation of snow cover. Until they say otherwise, I'll take them at their word.
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