Harsh cold from polar vortex envelops north-central US
By
Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather senior editor
Updated Feb 10, 2021 3:27 PM EDT
The National Weather Service in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, put science to the test when wind chill temperatures at 25 degrees below zero Fahrenheit on Feb. 7, allowed them to show water in all three phases.
The harshest cold of the winter so far is not showing any signs of relenting anytime soon across the north-central United States. Due in part to a shift in the polar vortex, dangerously low temperatures have been recorded across the northern tier of the U.S., and some locations haven't been above zero for more than two days.
Many of the locations reporting the harshest cold, such as International Falls, Minnesota, where the temperature hit -36 F on Monday morning, aren't strangers to such extreme low readings at this time of year. In fact, despite the widespread blast of Arctic air sending temperatures tumbling well into the 20s and 30s below zero, there were not many new daily records set.
Around parts of the Upper Midwest, the extreme cold blast produced sights seen only during winter, such as a "steam devil" on Lake Superior. Similar to dust devils, steam devils form during cold outbreaks when the waters in a body of water, such as Lake Superior, are comparatively warm, the National Weather Service (NWS) in Duluth, Minnesota, explained.
The NWS in Duluth also took the time to perform a couple of classic cold-weather demonstrations, including throwing boiling hot water into the subfreezing air and watching it instantly turn into ice crystals. The NWS in Milwaukee also had fun performing the same experiment on Sunday.
Prior to the hot water experiment, the NWS Duluth office showcased another trick -- leaving a pair of jeans out in the cold to freeze solid so the pants could stand on their own.
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As a result of the frigid air, the ice coverage on Lake Erie increased substantially. AccuWeather Broadcast Meteorologist Geoff Cornish said that the coverage went from 8% to 43% from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. The ice coverage for the lake was at 45.9% as of Monday morning. By Tuesday afternoon, ice coverage on Lake Erie had climbed to over 80%.
"We're in a midst of a period of rapid, rapid ice growth on Lake Erie, and it is quickly filling in from all angles," Cornish said.
Overall ice coverage for the entirety of the Great Lakes is 24.8%, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. On Saturday, Feb. 6, the number was around 12.6%.
Although the cold invasion didn't result in a widespread shattering of daily record lows, several new records have been recorded. Appleton, Wisconsin, located about 100 miles north of Milwaukee, dropped to 20 below zero on Monday, toppling the previous daily record of -16 from 1936. Across the Plains, Hastings, Nebraska, hit -18 around 1:34 a.m. local time Tuesday. This broke the previous record of -15 set back in 1994 and 1933.
As the below-normal cold lingers, plumbers in Chicago are bracing for an influx of calls as pipes can potentially burst or freeze due to cold blasts triggered by the polar vortex, according to AccuWeather National Weather Report Emmy Victor. The average high temperature for this time of year in the Windy City is 34 F.
Chicago began February with temperatures hanging around 33 F for daily highs before the mercury steadily dropped from a high of 19 F on Feb. 5 to just 5 F on Feb. 7.
Temperatures in Minnesota fell as low as -40 at a DOT weather station Monday morning.
AccuWeather
In some cases, temperatures have been below zero for days. Fargo, North Dakota, last recorded a temperature above zero on Friday night. The city reported temperatures as low as 20 below zero on Sunday.
Minneapolis has also remained in the grip of subzero cold. Temperatures briefly peaked above zero to hit 1 F for a short time Saturday afternoon but soon dropped back below zero and have remained there since. A low of -15 F was recorded at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Sunday morning. On Monday, the airport temperature did reach zero from around 3-5 p.m. local time but did not go any higher.
And the brutal air mass is sticking around for a while.
“Unfortunately for people who really mind the cold, Arctic air is going to remain entrenched over much of the North Central states into this weekend," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.
And there is even more bad news for fans of warm weather, Sosnowski added. "Arctic air is likely to get even more extensive by this weekend," he said, as the frigid air mass makes "a lunge into the South Central states and an eastward lunge through the Northeast."
Records that are nearly 100 years old could be shattered in places like Des Moines, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska, while a 116-year-old record could be smashed in St. Louis on Saturday.
"Many locations across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast can experience temperatures 15-25 degrees Fahrenheit below average for mid-February as early as Saturday or Sunday," AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said. Gilbert added that while widespread record-breaking cold is unlikely with this push of Arctic air in the Northeast, conditions will still feel brutal for those residents who are already fed up with the winter chill.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Winter Weather
Harsh cold from polar vortex envelops north-central US
By Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather senior editor
Updated Feb 10, 2021 3:27 PM EDT
The National Weather Service in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, put science to the test when wind chill temperatures at 25 degrees below zero Fahrenheit on Feb. 7, allowed them to show water in all three phases.
The harshest cold of the winter so far is not showing any signs of relenting anytime soon across the north-central United States. Due in part to a shift in the polar vortex, dangerously low temperatures have been recorded across the northern tier of the U.S., and some locations haven't been above zero for more than two days.
Many of the locations reporting the harshest cold, such as International Falls, Minnesota, where the temperature hit -36 F on Monday morning, aren't strangers to such extreme low readings at this time of year. In fact, despite the widespread blast of Arctic air sending temperatures tumbling well into the 20s and 30s below zero, there were not many new daily records set.
Around parts of the Upper Midwest, the extreme cold blast produced sights seen only during winter, such as a "steam devil" on Lake Superior. Similar to dust devils, steam devils form during cold outbreaks when the waters in a body of water, such as Lake Superior, are comparatively warm, the National Weather Service (NWS) in Duluth, Minnesota, explained.
The NWS in Duluth also took the time to perform a couple of classic cold-weather demonstrations, including throwing boiling hot water into the subfreezing air and watching it instantly turn into ice crystals. The NWS in Milwaukee also had fun performing the same experiment on Sunday.
Prior to the hot water experiment, the NWS Duluth office showcased another trick -- leaving a pair of jeans out in the cold to freeze solid so the pants could stand on their own.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
As a result of the frigid air, the ice coverage on Lake Erie increased substantially. AccuWeather Broadcast Meteorologist Geoff Cornish said that the coverage went from 8% to 43% from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. The ice coverage for the lake was at 45.9% as of Monday morning. By Tuesday afternoon, ice coverage on Lake Erie had climbed to over 80%.
"We're in a midst of a period of rapid, rapid ice growth on Lake Erie, and it is quickly filling in from all angles," Cornish said.
Overall ice coverage for the entirety of the Great Lakes is 24.8%, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. On Saturday, Feb. 6, the number was around 12.6%.
Although the cold invasion didn't result in a widespread shattering of daily record lows, several new records have been recorded. Appleton, Wisconsin, located about 100 miles north of Milwaukee, dropped to 20 below zero on Monday, toppling the previous daily record of -16 from 1936. Across the Plains, Hastings, Nebraska, hit -18 around 1:34 a.m. local time Tuesday. This broke the previous record of -15 set back in 1994 and 1933.
As the below-normal cold lingers, plumbers in Chicago are bracing for an influx of calls as pipes can potentially burst or freeze due to cold blasts triggered by the polar vortex, according to AccuWeather National Weather Report Emmy Victor. The average high temperature for this time of year in the Windy City is 34 F.
Chicago began February with temperatures hanging around 33 F for daily highs before the mercury steadily dropped from a high of 19 F on Feb. 5 to just 5 F on Feb. 7.
Temperatures in Minnesota fell as low as -40 at a DOT weather station Monday morning.
In some cases, temperatures have been below zero for days. Fargo, North Dakota, last recorded a temperature above zero on Friday night. The city reported temperatures as low as 20 below zero on Sunday.
Minneapolis has also remained in the grip of subzero cold. Temperatures briefly peaked above zero to hit 1 F for a short time Saturday afternoon but soon dropped back below zero and have remained there since. A low of -15 F was recorded at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Sunday morning. On Monday, the airport temperature did reach zero from around 3-5 p.m. local time but did not go any higher.
And the brutal air mass is sticking around for a while.
“Unfortunately for people who really mind the cold, Arctic air is going to remain entrenched over much of the North Central states into this weekend," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.
And there is even more bad news for fans of warm weather, Sosnowski added. "Arctic air is likely to get even more extensive by this weekend," he said, as the frigid air mass makes "a lunge into the South Central states and an eastward lunge through the Northeast."
Records that are nearly 100 years old could be shattered in places like Des Moines, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska, while a 116-year-old record could be smashed in St. Louis on Saturday.
"Many locations across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast can experience temperatures 15-25 degrees Fahrenheit below average for mid-February as early as Saturday or Sunday," AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said. Gilbert added that while widespread record-breaking cold is unlikely with this push of Arctic air in the Northeast, conditions will still feel brutal for those residents who are already fed up with the winter chill.
Related:
Report a TypoKeep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.