Weekend: Widespread Arctic Air And Possible Winter System - Ice Age Now
Weekend: Widespread Arctic Air And Possible Winter System
February 5, 2021 by
Robert
An arctic air mass with frigid temperatures and
life-threatening wind chills is expected to consume much of the northern Plains and Upper Midwest into the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley this weekend. Widespread wind chill warnings and advisories are already in effect. Meanwhile, heavy snow may hit weekend from the central Plains into portions of the East.
According to the NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park, Maryland, multiple rounds of heavy snow are on the way for the Cascades and Northern/Central Rockies & Plains, with life-threatening wind chills entering the Northern Plains tonight.
Heavy lake effect snow is likely through Saturday across the eastern shores of the Great Lakes.
Heavy snow possible from the Central Appalachians to the Northeast I-95 corridor.
Periods of snow from the northern Rockies and Plains to the central Plains this weekend.
Current moderate-to-heavy snowfall in Montana and the central Rockies tracks into the central Plains tonight.
Winter Weather Advisories are in place for much of Nebraska and northeast Kansas through Saturday morning where 3 to 6 inches of snow are forecast.
Meanwhile comes another round of moderate-to-heavy snow in the northern Rockies and Plains. Winter Storm Warnings are in place for parts of Montana into Sunday afternoon.
By Sunday evening, snowfall will likely be measured in feet along the highest elevations of the Cascades, Bitterroots, and northern Rockies.
In addition to the snow, bitterly cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills will be common in the northern Plains and Upper Midwest this weekend.
High temperatures will struggle to get above zero Fahrenheit (-17.8C) from Montana and North Dakota to Minnesota both Saturday and Sunday with wind chills potentially as low as -50F (-45.8C) degrees.
This has resulted in Wind Chill Warnings for northern North Dakota and Minnesota, while bone-chilling wind chills are also expected within counties under Wind Chill Advisories that span from eastern Montana to northwest Wisconsin.
Over the Great Lakes, brisk and persistent westerly winds and bitter temperatures support favorable conditions for lake effect snow in the typical snowbelts. The lake effect snow machine continues to pump out bands of heavy snowfall when conditions are ripe due to ice coverage across the Great Lakes being well below average.
Weekend snowfall totals are likely to include several inches of snow along the western shores of Michigan with as much as 6 to 12 inches (locally higher amounts possible)
downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario.
Precipitation looks to fall in the form of snow from the southern Appalachians to the Mid-Atlantic. There is still some uncertainty, but the latest forecast calls for snow, falling heavily at times, from the DC/Baltimore metro areas up the I-95 corridor to southern New England on Sunday.
Snowfall totals could range anywhere from a couple inches to as much as 6 inches in the higher elevations of the central Appalachians.
Winter Storm Watches have been issued from western North Carolina and southwest Virginia to portions of the Northeast I-95 corridor.
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