Wintry weather makes an early appearance
Parts of US brace for heavy snow, record cold
John Bacon
A wintry weather pattern that brought single-digit temperatures and more than a foot of snow to parts of the Upper Midwest was rolling across a wide swath of the nation Monday, threatening to break hundreds of records and bring a deep freeze as far south as Florida.
“The coldest surge of arctic air so far this season will bring widespread record low temperatures for much of the central and eastern U.S. even down to the Gulf Coast,” said Kwan-Yin Kong, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.
Parts of Michigan already were overwhelmed with more than a foot of snow Monday – and some areas could see more than two feet before the snow ends Tuesday, AccuWeather said. As far south as Oklahoma, freezing temperatures and freezing rain normally reserved for the middle of winter were making their debut more than two weeks before Thanksgiving.
“Cold front continues to surge through OK, with post-frontal gusts of 35-50 mph,” the National Weather Service warned in a tweet. “The freezing line is slowly creeping into northeast OK.”
In Chicago, where as much as 6 inches of snow fell, an Envoy Air flight from Greensboro, North Carolina, slid off an icy runway at O’Hare International Airport as it tried to land at about 7:45 a.m. None of the 38 passengers and three crew members were injured, according to the city’s aviation department.
More than 500 flights were canceled at Chicago’s airports and officials in the area opened warming centers. In Michigan, some schools closed early.
Record lows are expected across the South and Midwest on Tuesday, when parts of Texas could drop to 16 degrees. Cities in Texas and Louisiana were predicted to reach highs in the mid-40s, breaking long-standing records.
By Tuesday, record cold is possible in the Northeast, Ohio Valley and portions of the South. The cold will sweep into the southern Plains and Ohio Valley.
The high Tuesday in Dallas is forecast for 44 degrees – 24 degrees below average for the date. By Tuesday night, Dallas is forecast for a low of 22 degrees. The record low for the date is 21 degrees.
Monday’s high in Brownsville, Texas, was forecast for 82 degrees – double Tuesday’s forecast high of 41.
By Wednesday the coldest temps will drift east. Boston down to Washington, D.C., will challenge record lows for the date.
“We expect a swath of higher snowfall totals from central New York to northern Maine,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Courtney Travis said.
The cold will dip deep into the South. Highs may only reach the 30s as far south as northern Florida. A freeze watch was in effect for Pensacola, where temperatures were forecast to dip below freezing Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.