Wild weather: Snow and bitter cold for central, eastern US
T.S. Eliot wrote, “April is the cruelest month,” and that’s proving true for winter-weary folks across the northern U.S., as more waves of bitter cold and heavy snow are forecast over the next several days.
Record cold is possible this weekend all the way from Montana to Wisconsin and as far south as Oklahoma, with temperatures more typical of late January than early April.
Weather Channel meteorologist Michael Palmer called it a “ridiculous late season arctic outbreak,” warning that a hard freeze is possible into the Deep South.
The National Weather Service said colder air will flow into areas from New England to the southern Plains on Saturday – with highs ranging from 10 to 20 degrees below normal.
Snow will also continue to make unwelcome appearances: A two-day snowstorm will wreak travel havoc in at least 20 states from Montana to Massachusetts on Friday and Saturday.
On Saturday, a swath of heavy snow is likely to spread from the mountains of West Virginia to the upper Mid-Atlantic coast and southern New England, AccuWeather said.
If an inch of snow falls in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, that would be the biggest April snowfall there in almost 100 years.
Airline delays and flight cancellations related to de-icing operations and poor visibility are likely at the major hubs from Cincinnati and Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston, AccuWeather said.
Yet another snowstorm will wallop the northern Plains and Upper Midwest on Sunday. In Minneapolis, where 8 to 10 inches is possible, the Twins baseball game Sunday will likely be snowed out.