Well the push of mild air has come at a cost with flooding caused by both heavy rainfall and snow and ice melt. Even severe weather impacted the Southeast yesterday. Wind gusts clocking 86 mph at Raleigh Airport, NC set a new wind record there while temperatures shot up to 61 at Philadelphia which is a major climb compared to last Tuesday’s high of 13.

It’s now  a balmy 39 in Chicago and close to 60 along the Illinois-Missouri line. Back on Friday amidst heavy, flooding rains, the Chicago temperature made it above freezing for the first time in 11 days in what’s been the coldest start to a January in 26 years and is currently the 9th coldest overall. It’s also the 3rd snowiest winter on record according to WGN-TV’s Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling.

Current temps.

In Florida, temperatures only made it to 42 last Tuesday in Daytona Beach which was a record cold high while yesterday it soared to 84, a record high for the date. Further up the coast and Jacksonville only made it to 39 Tuesday while they hit 81 yesterday.

Up till now, the US has taken center stage for cold. Check out this graphic which shows the worst of the cold anomalies throughout the hemisphere, over the heart of the US.

100 mph Winds Blow Over Rockies

A good part of the reason behind the significant warming across the country is a thanks to a strong Pacific storm that’s pushing through Washington and Oregon out into the Northern Rockies. Winds have been particularly strong through the passes of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming down into Colorado and out onto the Plains where wild fires are raging today in Oklahoma and Kansas.

These winds have gusted to 120 mph in California, 115 mph in Montana, 111 mph in Wyoming, 109 mph in Colorado and they will continue to blow widely in the 40-60 mph through tonight, helping drive Pacific air all the way to the East Coast.

Enjoy The Warmth While It Lasts!

With the really cold stuff back up over the Alaska, Yukon and NWT, enjoy the Pacific flow because it won’t last. As ridging builds back onto the West Coast once again, much colder air will descend upon the Midwest and East once again. While looking cold mid week, by late week into next weekend, it’s back to the bitter stuff once again.

A northern branch system (clipper) looks to dive into Montana and the Dakotas Tuesday and by Wednesday, on the backside, we see the return of arctic air, eventually reaching the Mid-Atlantic later Wednesday into Thursday.

This AccuWeather graphic shows the possible scenario of the clipper type low firing up as it taps the warm Atlantic waters, which draw moisture into the cold air, bringing a ‘surprise’ coating to 3″ snowfall from Richmond up to NYC.

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Below is tomorrow’s GFS surface chart showing the strong winds crossing the Northern Rockies denoted by the tight westerly gradient of the isobars but note the dip over the Canadian Rockies, that’s the clipper system that’s heading Mid-Atlantic bound mid week and could stir up trouble (snow) even for DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

By Tuesday that system can be seen crossing the N Plains while a system currently crossing Northern Mexico pushes across the Southeast bringing potentially flooding rains. Those rains push up the East Coast.

By Wednesday the ridge returns to the Pacific Northwest while the slipper system brings snow across the Midwest into the Ohio Valley with arctic air returning on the rear.

By Thursday that system pushes off the VA Capes, perhaps gaining intensity with feedback which could bring some snow to the Mid-Atlantic but notice the ridge builds north on the West Coast which should help drive colder air further up in the arctic… southeastbound, making way for a very cold late week and weekend in the East again. Also note the bigger storm system over southern Manitoba, that could be a big N Plains snow maker.

Finally, the Saturday that system is off the coast, the ridge has build north up into Alaska and that means a reinforcing shot of real arctic source air into the Eastern US which means highs struggling to reach 5-8 in Minneapolis, 10-13 in Chicago and possibly mid-20s from DC to Boston, all depends on snow cover. Lows perhaps back into the 10s as far south as Atlanta, 20s North Florida.

Here’s those chilly 850 temps…

72 hrs

114 hrs

126 hrs

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