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| The National Weather Service web site home page has most of the eastern United States in blue, indicating extreme cold alerts or winter storm watches. That patch of pink in Oklahoma is an upgrade to a winter storm warning. Much of this map will turn that pink or purple in the coming days. That will indicate winter storm or ice storm warnings |
All that blue indicates the dangerous weather much of the nation is facing starting today and going through the weekend.
Extreme cold watches and warnings, and winter storm watches are all depicted in varying shades of blue.
This will be a deadly, very expensive winter storm.
Note: For my Vermont readers, I have what's in store further down in this post. But first, the national situation
INTENSE COLD, SNOW, ICE
Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina have declared states of emergency already because of the storm. I'm betting other states will follow suit.
Arguably the scariest part of this batch of winter weather is the huge area that are at risk for destructive freezing rain. The band of ice would extend from central and northern Texas, through the northern Gulf States, the mid-Misssissipi Valley, the southern Appalachians and on into the Carolinas and Virginia.
At least some of these areas will have enough ice to cave in countless trees and power lines. Electricity might be out for days. Roads might also be blocked for days, too. It won't warm up immediately after the storm, so the ice will continue to wreak havoc even after skies clear.
In some areas that see freezing rain, temperatures could be as low as the upper teens, meaning a much greater share of the rain would freeze than you would normally see in an ice storm.
North of all that ice, a broad band of heavy snow is expected from the southern and central Plains through a large are of the Midwest and into the Northeast.
Exactly where the worst of the snow and ice is still TBA, but we do know that at least tens of millions of people will have one of the worst, if not the worst winter storm they experienced in years.
I'm seeing news footage this morning of people clearing supermarket shelves of food and other supplies ahead of the storm. If you have travel plans this weekend, good luck! I'm sure flights throughout most of the eastern two thirds of the U.S. will be a mess. Major airlines are already waiving rebooking fees.
I would also suggest picking another time for a road trip across, for instance, Arkansas. Or dozens of other states for that matter.
Places like Home Depot and Lowes are reporting runs on portable generators. Electric utilities have told customers to prepare for multi-day power outages.
In much the winter storm zone and north of it, extreme cold warnings, watches and advisories extend from the Plains to northern New England.
The most intense cold will be up in North Dakota and northern Minnesota, where wind chills will be near 50 below. A lot of those places will have three consecutive nights in the 20s and 30s below.
You probably noticed that those affected by the Arctic blast are under extreme cold warnings and watches. That might seem odd to people who are more familiar with wind chill warnings and watches.
The National Weather Service abandoned wind chill alerts in 2024 to streamline warnings and make them more clear. After all, it can be dangerously cold outside with or without wind. There had been a misconception among the public that extreme cold is dangerous only if there's wind.
Extreme cold watches and warnings make it clear that it's the temperature that makes it dangerous. Extreme cold warnings mention wind chills if the gusts make the "real feel" of the air outside feel horrible.
VERMONT EFFECTS
The forecasts have been trending north with the snow with t
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| A brief burst of snow dusted the evergreens around my house in St. Albans, Vermont this morning. Expects more snow showers today and tomorrow before the Arctic blast arrives later tomorrow, We might get part of that big winter storm later Sunday and Monday, too. |
his vast winter storm, so expect at least a few inches of snow later Sunday and Monday in parts of, or maybe all of Vermont. More on that in a bit, but we've got other interesting weather to get to first.
There's a LOT to talk about, so let's dive in!
We've still got a couple cold fronts to get through today and tomorrow, which means snow showers. We still think we'll see some snow squalls in the mix here and there, so be ready for some changeable road conditions and sudden shifts in visibility.
The snow showers have already started this morning. A pretty heavy but brief burst of snow came through my perch in St. Albans a little before 8:30 a.m.
I'll be hard to tell in advance when and where these snow bursts show up, so stay on your toes! Total accumulation through all this will be mostly an inch or less, with locally slightly higher amounts.
Today will be the last mild day we see for awhile, ,as temperatures head into the 30s. The colder air behind this first front isn't all that cold. It'll get into the teens tonight and up to near 20 or so tomorrow morning or early afternoon.
But then the second front with its snow showers and squalls introduce us into the Arctic hell. The extreme cold watch for all but a sliver of southeastern Vermont will probably turn into a warning later today.
Friday night will be brutal as temperatures fall through the single numbers and then below zero. Winds will be gusty fro the northwest. Temperatures still look like they'll bottom out in the upper single numbers to teens below zero by Saturday morning. Highs will be within a few degrees either side of zero. Yuck!
That big winter storm might prevent temperatures from dropping as low as they otherwise could Saturday night. The coldest temperatures hit on calm, clear nights. High clouds billowing far north and east of the storm could come in overnight, halting the temperature plunge.
The clouds are literally cold comfort though. Temperatures overnight and into Sunday morning will drop into the teens below zero, with a few spots in the 20s below. It'll be the coldest night at least since February, 2023 or perhaps before then.
Those high clouds are a harbinger of what to me is a bit of a surprise. It now looks like we could get some snow out of that immense winter storm.
Once the storm is near the East Coast, it's expected to strengthen more than earlier forecasts indicated It's also now projected to head a little further north than earlier guesses.
At this point, the storm is still wanting to go south of New England. That would normally mean we'd get little if any snow. But the area of snow north of this thing is going to be much wider than a normal storm.
It now looks like everyone in Vermont will get some snow out of this Sunday night and Monday. But for now, anyway, the heaviest snow looks like it would stay to our south.
In southern Vermont, the National Weather Service office in South Burlington gives about an 80 percent chance of at least two inches of snow, a roughly 60 percent chance of six inches and perhaps just a 20 or 30 percent chance of a foot of snow.
In northern Vermont, the odds are for about a 65 chance of two inches and a 40 percent of six inches of snow. There's just a 10 to 20 percent chance of a foot up north.
The storm is still far away from New England, so projections could easily change one way or another.
Most of the time, when it snows around here, temperatures are somewhere in the 20s to around 30. This go around, temperatures will be in the single numbers to low teens while it's snowing. So early guesses are this will be a very powdery feathery snow.
Although it won't be brutally cold after the storm goes by, it will still be much colder than normal. Early guesses have daily high temperatures for all of next week in the teens, with lows within a few degrees either side of zero. All that is a good 10 degrees colder than normal for this time of year.
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