Arctic air blast aims for Midwest, East
Winter just won’t end.
Air pouring down from the Arctic, along with several rounds of snow, will punish portions of the central and eastern United States into the weekend, making a mockery of the calendar.
Part of the Polar Vortex will stay anchored near Hudson Bay in Canada through the weekend, AccuWeather said. The cold air will persist across the Plains, Midwest and Northeast at least through Sunday, with record low temperatures possible, the Weather Channel said.
By early Friday in Bismarck, N.D., the temperature is forecast to drop to 5, with a wind chill of 15 below zero, the National Weather Service said. That temperature would be normal there in late January, not early April.
Lows Saturday morning are expected to dip below freezing as far south as Oklahoma and northern Texas.
Several snowstorms will slide across the nation’s northern tier Thursday through Sunday, adding to the wintry feel. The first storm will dump snow Thursday on the upper Midwest, Great Lakes, interior Northeast and northern New England. The next storm could spread snow from the central Plains to the Ohio Valley on Friday. By Saturday, the snow will threaten the East.
“A swath of accumulating snow may affect areas from the central Appalachians to the Mid-Atlantic and perhaps southern New England,” AccuWeather’s Mike Doll said.
The snow will continue Sunday with another system that will hit the northern Rockies, northern Plains and upper Midwest, the Weather Channel warned.
By next week, milder air should make its way across the northern tier of the nation, AccuWeather said, as the Polar Vortex retreats north, keeping Arctic air contained over northern Canada where it belongs.