Arctic cold snap and lake-effect snow in Midwest, Northeast brief, but potent
A big burst of painfully cold air and major lake-effect snow blast millions across the Midwest and Northeast into the end of this week bringing feet of snow and treacherous travel.
Heavy snow fell to the east of the Great Lakes on Dec. 12 as frigid air returned to the Northeast.
A blast of Arctic air brought punishing cold winds and bands of heavy lake-effect snow that buried some towns in fresh feet of snow into Friday, AccuWeather meteorologists warned. However, the good news for millions who mind the cold, must travel or are struggling to pay heating bills is that the frigid conditions will not lock in nor will the lake-effect snow persist.
Actual temperatures plunged below zero Fahrenheit, and AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures hovered in the 20 to 40 below zero range on Wednesday morning over portions of the Dakotas and Minnesota. At the start of the day on Thursday, actual temperatures were in the single digits in Chicago and the 10s in Indianapolis and Cleveland.
The magnitude of the frigid air will lose some of its intensity while traveling over the bare ground in the Midwest and over the open and relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes, but the cold will still pack some sting as far to the south as the Ohio and Tennessee valleys from and as far to the east as the Appalachians and the Atlantic coast into Friday morning.
Following temperatures in the single digits to start the day Thursday, highs were only be in the 10s in Chicago on Thursday afternoon.
AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures were in the 30s in New York City on Thursday afternoon and dipped into the 20s Friday morning.
As the cold air blasts across the Great Lakes, towering clouds will organized into long streets, and snow showers intensified and organize into bands of heavy snow. This lake-effect followed the quick burst of snow from that coated some of the landscape from Ohio Valley to the Appalachians Wednesday night.
This lake-effect snow brought a quick few inches as the bands move through. The Lake Ontario band may persist, bringing many inches to several feet of snow into Friday morning.
Pockets where 12-24 inches of snow piled up include portions of northern Michigan, southwestern Ontario, western New York and Upstate New York downwind of Lake Ontario. The maximum amount of snow that has been observed as of Friday morning is 42.5 inches in Eden, New York, south of Buffalo.
Erie, Pennsylvania, is off to its snowiest start to winter on record. 47 inches of snow have been recorded at Erie International Airport as of Friday morning. The town of Dunkirk, New York, has picked up a whopping 83.6 inches of snow prior to Dec. 13.
The Arctic plunge of air will quickly pivot eastward and then off the Atlantic coast this weekend. As the core of the coldest air shifts eastward, temperatures will begin to rebound in the Midwest as early as Friday then the East on Saturday.
The warmup over parts of the north-central United States may hit a snag as a storm from the Pacific Ocean rolls across the Plains and produces a zone of ice from Friday evening to Saturday.
Gusty winds may follow that storm as it moves along, but the air behind it is of Pacific origin, rather than being traced back to the Arctic. The jet stream, which guides storms and batches of air along, will set up in a west-to-east fashion that should prevent Arctic air from lunging southward.
Following the conclusion of the Arctic blast to end this week, relatively mild conditions are in store up to around Christmastime for much of the Central and Eastern states.
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