An arctic blast is bringing extreme cold, heavy snow and intense wind across much of the U.S. this week — just in time for the holidays. Here's what you should know:
Those in the Plains, the Upper Midwest and the Great Lakes should expect blizzard conditions as heavy winds whip up the snow, according to the National Weather Service.Pretty much everyone east of the Rockies — around two-thirds of the country — will see extreme weather in the coming days, said Ryan Maue, a private meteorologist in the Atlanta area.
Though much of the West Coast will be shielded from the cold, the Arctic front is expected to pass east and south all the way through Florida. As for the snow, those in the Midwest will probably see a “heck of a storm,” though blizzard conditions aren’t expected to hit the East Coast, Maue said. Some spots around the Great Lakes may see upwards of a foot of snow by Friday, the National Weather Service predicted. Heavy snowfall and intense winds could be bad news for travel, Oravec said. Airports in the Midwest, including the travel hub of Chicago, will likely face shutdowns as the blizzard comes through later in the week.And for those planning to hit the road for the holidays, “you’re going to have pretty serious whiteout conditions,” Maue cautioned.This weather system is expected to bring some major “weather whiplash,” said Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research. The cold isn’t going to stick around for long. After the dramatic plunge that will keep temperatures low for about a week, “everything will snap back to normal,” Cohen said. Shortly after Christmas, temperatures will start to warm up again, moving from west to east. They are likely to remain near normal through the end of the year in most of the U.S.It all started farther north, as frigid air collected over the snow-covered ground in the Arctic, Maue said.Then the jet stream — wobbling air currents in the middle and upper parts of the atmosphere — began pushing this cold pool down into the U.S. As this arctic air is pushed into the warmer, moister air ahead of it, the system can quickly develop into serious weather — including what’s known as a “bomb cyclone,” aThese severe weather events usually form over bodies of water, which have lots of warmth and moisture to feed the storm, Maue said. But with the huge amount of cold air coming through, we could see a rare bomb cyclone forming over land. Whether this storm technically qualifies as a bomb cyclone depends on how quickly the pressure drops — but either way, the snowfall plus high winds will make for an intense bout of winter weather.The storm is definitely a strong one, but “not unheard of for the winter seasons,” Oravec said. It’s pretty normal to have cold air build up in the winter. This week, though, shifts in the jet stream are pushing the air more to the southeast than usual, Oravec said — sweeping the freeze across the country and making storm conditions more intense.The U.S. probably won’t reach record-breaking lows, like those seen in the cold snap of 1983 or the polar vortex of 2014, Maue said.The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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EXPLAINER: Arctic blast sweeps US, bomb cyclone possibleAn arctic blast is bringing extreme cold, heavy snow and high winds to much of the U.S. this week
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