>An Unforgiving Period of Winter Settling into the Lower 48

>An Exciting Pattern unfolding if you like it cold!
(Graphics courtesy of AccuWeather.com and The Weather Channel)
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It’s cold now with teens below zero already shivering the Twin Cities as of this hour whilst International Falls, the ice box, is now creeping through the mid thirties below zero… Ouch! This folks is going to become the norm although I strongly believe the major cold now throwing itself into the Midwest will ease for them and it will be the East that will have to deal with the “worst of the coldest air” in about a week or so which I believe will last through January. The worst of the cold may now be hitting you folks in the Midwest and Plains with wave no.1 hitting currently and a secondary wave which will hit Sun-Mon and this may last through next week but may ease by next weekend…

Whilst the folks in the Midwest shiver and you guys in the Eastern third start to feel the bite of old man winter with this weekends teens and 20s and wind chills that drop below zero, GET USE TO IT… The worst is still about a week away and will last through at least January. What the Midwest will endure over the next week will be what you folks in the East will endure in about a week to 10 days so pay close attention, what they are seeing, you will see…

It’s certainly a cold early January morning across the Upper Midwest that’s for sure but take heart Midwesterners, endure and embrace the next 10-days as I believe this COULD potentially be your worst stretch of winter you’ll see this year as heights build across the West and the trough deepens from the Lakes into the Southeast part of the country.

Yes, it will grow colder I think before it grows warmer for the Upper Midwest, I do see subzero highs for Minneapolis and teens below zero for portions of eastern North Dakota and western, northwestern Minnesota. Tonight it’s likely to bottom out around 16 to 18 below in the Twin Cities whilst lows close to 40 below may be found up along the Canadian border at International Falls and Fort Frances, Ontario.Portions of northwest Iowa where it’s already 26 below at Sioux Falls, we may see a couple lows in that area of the state drop under 30 below. This is thanks to a very deep 17 inch snow pack, clear skies and a strong Arctic high. Check out the 27 inch snowpack up in Duluth! They’re heading for the mid-twenties below later this morning!

I am not going to go all out and say that winter will be over in about 10 days for the Midwest, the worst or most extreme cold found in the winter of 09-10 may be experienced over the next 10 days but it’s more than likely we shall see winterty weather for the rest of January and likely through February with a possible return to “”extreme” cold sometime in February. Near normal or below normal conditions will continue to rule the Midwest-Northern Plains atmosphere for the next 6-8 week period with a general average high for the Twin Cities dancing between 10 and 20 degrees, lows in the -5 to 5 degree range I believe. For Chicago highs dance between 10 and 25 degrees, Lows zero to 15 degrees.

But it’s the Eastern third from the eastern Lakes say from western NY state to the Mid-Atlantic I see the worst winter period for the nation compared to normal showing up from Jan 10 through Feb 1. A period of severe cold is forecasted and has been since June. A period of a week to 10-days where highs from Balitimore to Boston may struggle to reach 18 degrees and lows that every night hits single digits. DC may see a couple of days where highs don’t reach 18 degrees. All cities from DC to Boston will hit 0 or lower….

Wind chills from DC to Boston could reach 30 below zero!!

Thanks for reading.

-Mark

Any questions or comments feel free to email me at [email protected] or write in the comments section below.