It was one heck of a cold start from Canada all the way to Florida this morning and this afternoon is not much better with temperatures running 30-45 below normal. When encompassing the entire Eastern US, this morning was likely the coldest start since 1994. This blast from the arctic had been forecasted for over a week now and it sure has materialised with temperatures plunging below 0 in Alabama and 14 making it all the way to Mobile.
Blame the ‘over mentioned’ decent of the polar vortex or at least a chunk of it which descended south into the Lower 48. This occurs every so many years and brings particularly harsh waves of cold which is typically confined to Canada.
What probably impressed me the most about this particular arctic outbreak is the numbers witnessed all the way down to Alabama. According to the ABC 33-40 blog, the temperature fell to an amazing -3 near Harvest in Madison, County, Alabama while it got to down 3 in Cullman, 4 in Huntsville, 7 in both Birmingham and Huntsville, 13 in Montgomery and even 18 down at Gulf Shores.
I felt the need to post this rare image captured this morning of icicles hanging off Dauphin Island Pier, yes which extends out into the Gulf of Mexico (courtesy of Dauphin Island Chamber of Commerce).
Photo courtesy of Dauphin Island Chamber of Commerce
With a low of 6 in both Atlanta, GA and up in Charlotte, NC, this morning was the coldest since 1996 and 1994 respectively.
Check out the lows across the US this morning, brrr.
Source: weather.com
Here’s a more detailed view thanks to WeatherBug. Just look at those single digits across the South, very impressive.
Courtesy of WeatherBug
A low of -24 at Mount Mitchell, NC this morning was the 2nd coldest for that site and 7th coldest for the state of North Carolina. Little Rock, AR bottomed out at 9 which was the coldest January reading since 1988 and the high of 23 yesterday was coldest since 1990.
Further north and this morning started off at -15 in Indianapolis following the recent 10 inch snowstorm, that low was in fact the coldest since 1994. While the actual high was -2 at midnight in Chicago, the thermometer dropped to -16, only rising to -11 which made for the coldest ‘daytime’ temperature since 1994.
Courtesy of WUSA9
As for the I-95 corridor, well it sure was frigid too with lows dropping to 7 in DC, a record 3 in Baltimore while it hit 4 in both Philadelphia and New York, 2 in Trenton, all records for the date. You didn’t have to go far west of the Big Cities to find sub-0 lows with -10s found in the Appalachians from North Carolina up to Pennsylvania into New York state. According to Chief Meteorologist Howard Bernstein of WUSA9, it got down to -20 in Davis, WV, -15 in Oakland, MD this morning, so just incredible cold and nothing we’ve seen in quite some time, although there was major cold back in January 2009 which saw DC drop to 6.
The thermometer is barely rising as we progress through today. Check out these incredible 12 noon temps (below) over the Mid-Atlantic. Note the -15 air temp still at Davis, WV. That’s only 5 off the morning low.
Courtesy of WUSA9
Check out this PM view overlooking DC with ice on the Potomac Rover in front of the Capitol Building (below). This will likely be the coldest day since 1994 across much of the Mid-Atlantic with many or most holding in the teens. Philadelphia on north won’t even reach the mid-teens.
Courtesy of WeatherBug
Here are the numbers as of 2.15pm ET and note the warming going on back to the west, both Minneapolis and Chicago have finally hit 0 for the first time since Sunday!
The warming trend is well underway across the Plains and Mississippi Valley while the core of cold focuses on the Ohio Valley to East Coast. Note that it’s only 21 as we approach mid afternoon in Atlanta and still below 0 up into Indiana and Ohio but the temperature should hold steady and eventually start rising into early tomorrow while it drops once again from the Appalachians on east but MUCH milder tomorrow into Thursday.
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Source: weather.com
Significant Weekend Warm-Up: DC 60s, NYC 50s By Saturday
As mentioned already, significant warming will spread east, erasing the bitter cold and by this weekend, temperatures will be back into the 60s from Atlanta to perhaps as far north as DC, 50s all the way to New York and Hartford as westerly winds warm things up, their already doing so over the Rockies and out onto the Plains with Chinook winds cranking.
Check out the ECMWF 500mb/850mb temps between today and Saturday.
Today
Saturday.
Here are the highs tomorrow.
Source: weather.com
By Saturday!!
Source: weather.com
More cold weather is on the horizon into next week and potentially another major arctic attack in the 10-20 day period. More later!!
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