The warmup in the East was a reminder of what season we’re heading into but for some, it may have been a little warm, too fast as parts of the NYC Tri-State got up close to 90 while the DC-Baltimore area did reach 90 for the first time this year. Keep in mind that it was record lows last week with teens over western Virginia and Maryland.

The warm front has sagged south into NYC and so the 80s are now 50s with storms likely to roam throughout tonight. It remains in the 80s down through Philadelphia on south.

The main front which slashed temperatures from 70/80s to 20s and 30s within 12-24 hours and in extreme cases from 90s to 30s within 9 hours over Texas, will continue to support strong to severe storms tonight up through the Mississippi and across the Ohio Valley.

Here’s here a radar shot across the Northeast.

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Like last night, out ahead of the front, temperatures tonight will remain in the 60s, perhaps mid to upper 60s within some of the downtowns but back west from Rapid City down through Alliance and into the eastern plains of Colorado, lows will dip into the single digits over the freshly laid snow.

Speaking of Rapid City, they received an astonishing 20 inches of snow which was the greatest single day snow on record for the city while Deadwood in the Black Hills reported 30 inches. April snow is not uncommon and some of the greatest snowstorms in western South Dakota occur during April.

As the main storm system takes aim further east, it’s Minneapolis-St Paul which faces the full wrath of this storm with as much as a foot possible within the metro area. This may well be a record-breaker here.

Here’s the latest GFS snow projections for the next 30 hours.

So how come it’s been so cold?

Here are some record lows which have occured in the ‘source region’, the area in which is feeding the bitter and unusual chill into the Plains and Rockies.

The temperature imbalance or spread across the Lower 48 has been quite stunning but while it’s been colder in the West, it’s also been warmer in the East believe it or not and these wild temperature spreads and 24-hour drops have occured before.

What About Next Week?

Yet another storm will cross the country and shall take a very similar track to this current system. Another plunge of cold air will drive south once again over the Rockies and Plains while out ahead of the front, warm air will once again flood the East though this next system doesn’t look just as potent with it’s snowfall and vast temperature contrast from 45 below normal vs 30 above.

Here’s the 500mb GFS ensemble means

Initial (now)

96 hr

144 hr

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