Dangerous Valentine's Day Squall, Blizzard, Temps
At first I thought about writing a pun-filled blog today, about how this is the coldest Valentine's Day for years in many places in the Northeast U.S. But then, looking at the maps this morning I caught the gravity of the situation. Folks I can't stress enough how dangerous the weather will be this Valentine's Day Weekend!
If people are on east-to-west interstates such as I-80 in PA when the Arctic front comes through today, bringing a blinding snow squall, there will be pileups from end to end because it will move perpendicularly along the entire Interstate. A smaller snow squall caused a pileup with 30 cars on I-80 Thursday despite forecasters warning of the event; this will be much worse.
Then tomorrow, RealFeel temps will fall below -40 in some places. This will give you frostbite within minutes! Combine that with feet of snow and near-hurricane-force winds in New England, which could make walking, driving, and getting your bearings difficult, and it's a recipe for disaster.
Add to that high winds that could create power outages and it's going to be brutal. If you live in the blizzard areas on this map, get your cell phone, cameras and radios charged up and think how you'll stay warm in your house when the actual temperature falls below zero tonight if the power goes out. AccuWeather's Marc Mancuso advised charging your cell phones this morning, in today's AccuLive.
Still think this cold outbreak isn't living up to its name? Sunday Night temperatures may be the worst, with many daily record lows threatened that were set during the end of the Little Ice Age! New York City will approach zero, which it hasn't been below in the last 20 years.
Look at these temperatures forecast for State College, PA, home of AccuWeather HQ. It's been a while since I've seen predictions this cold -- we're talking about threatening the daily record low temperature tomorrow with high winds on top of that! We may not make it past 5 degrees above zero on Sunday.
For updated information, view our AccuLive show and our news story.
