Winter storm brings blizzard conditions and dangerous wind chills
A powerful winter storm threatened blizzard-like conditions, dangerous travel and power outages in parts of the Upper Midwest as other parts of the country braced Monday for plunging temperatures, strong winds and a mix of snow, ice and rain.
Snow and increasingly strong winds began spreading Sunday across the Northern Plains, where the National Weather Service warned of whiteout and possible blizzard conditions that could make travel impossible in some areas. Snowfall totals are expected to exceed 30 centimeters in parts of the Upper Great Lakes and up to double that along the southern shore of Lake Superior.
“Part of the storm system is receiving heavy snow, other parts of the storm along the cold front are experiencing stronger winds and much colder temperatures as the front passes,” said Bob Oravec, senior forecaster at the National Weather Service office in College Park, Maryland. “They are all related to each other: different parts of the country will experience different effects from this storm.”
The weather service warned of “dangerous wind chills” of up to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34.4 degrees Celsius) in North Dakota and Minnesota from Sunday evening through Monday.
In the south, meteorologists warned that severe thunderstorms were likely to signal the arrival of a brutal cold front, bringing a sudden drop in temperatures and strong northerly winds that would abruptly end days of record heat in that region.
The high temperature in Atlanta was about 72 F (22 C) Sunday, continuing a warming trend after climbing to 78 F (about 26 C) to shatter the city’s temperature record for Christmas Eve, the National Weather Service said. Many more record-breaking temperatures were observed across the South and Midwest in the days following Christmas.
But the arrival of the cold front is expected to bring rain to much of the south late Sunday night, as well as a sharp drop in temperatures on Tuesday. Forecasters said the temperature in Atlanta was as low as 25 F (minus 3.9 C) early Tuesday morning. Colder temperatures in the South are expected to persist into the New Year.
In Dallas, temperatures Sunday in the low 80s (high 20s C) could drop to the mid 40s (single digits Celsius). In Little Rock, high temperatures of around 70 (21 C) on Sunday could drop to the mid 30s on Monday.
“We’re definitely moving back to a more winter pattern,” Oravec said.
The storm is expected to intensify as it moves east, drawing energy from a violent clash between frigid air plunging south from Canada and unusually warm air lingering in the southern United States, according to the National Weather Service.
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Willingham reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Martin reported from Kennesaw, Georgia.
