While yet more cold records fall in the North tonight, a major winter storm is gathering further south and poised to cause headaches from Texas to the Carolinas Tuesday-Wednesday before a coastal low intensifies off the Delmarva bringing a major snowstorm from the Carolinas to southern New England Wednesday through Friday.

Before we get there, tonight will be downright frigid once again from North Dakota to DC. The core of cold tonight is centred between International Falls and St Louis.

Tonight’s lows from weather.com

Tomorrow night the core of cold shifts east with lows dipping below 10 from Boston to Baltimore.

Tomorrow sees moisture meet the cold and therefore travel problems soon grow as heavy rain, ice and snow begin to pick up. Here’s the latest ECMWF surface/precip charts.

24

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48

72

90

The setup in coming together perfectly for a MAJOR ice event across parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and indeed the Carolinas as moisture gathers and lifts north while cold drives south. The real concern particularly over Alabama into central Georgia including Atlanta is that copious amounts of Gulf moisture rides up and over the low level cold but a layer of warmer air seen by the models a couple of thousand feet above the surface may setup, making precip fall as rain down to the surface where it’s below freezing.

Snow will impact the South too and up into the Carolinas and interior Mid-Atlantic and Northeast look set for a widespread 6-12, locally 1-2ft snowstorm. The western Carolinas could see records from this.

Here’s the still bullish ECMWF through the next 72 and 120 hours. Keep in mind the 12 inches over Georgia should include ICE through we could still see several inches, maybe close to a foot of snow on the GA-TN line.

120 hours

GFS as expected less bullish

Duluth Sets New Record For Long Consecutive Streak Below 0F

The temperature this evening has dipped back below 0 which means a new Duluth on the western tip of Lake Superior has entered all-time record territory. Tonight marks the 23rd straight night below 0, beating the previous record which was 22.

Chicago Edging Closer To All-Time Below 0 Record

Night time lows this morning dropped below 0 for the 20th night this winter which means Chicago is now in 5th place for most sub 0 nights in any given winter and tonight will make that 21 nights and just 4 off tying the all-time record for most below 0 nights on record which you have to go all the way back to the brutal winter of 1884-85 to have seen 25 nights. We all know there have been some incredibly cold winters since then so you know how rare a territory this winter has become.

Tonight Marks 42nd Night Below 0 In Minneapolis

This morning saw temps dip well below 0 (-11) for the 41st time this year in Minneapolis and while tonight has already dropped back below 0, that means we’re now into the 42nd night and edging closer to the top 10 list which is 45 back in the winter of 81-82. This morning also entered the top 10 list for longest stretch of consecutive below 0 nights. This morning was day 16 and we’re already into the 17th straight night. Quite incredible.

Milder Westerly Flow Next Week

More tomorrow.

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Tags: ice storm, snow storm, Southern ice storm