Happy New Year everyone!

The arctic door reopened early this week and so temps have been plummeting. Each morning, it’s gotten that bit colder further south as the near 1060 high migrated south. The core of the cold has been focused over the Rockies and Western Plains but this morning it’s reached all the way to Southwest in the wake of a strong Canadian-origin storm system which brought rare snowfall to outer parts of the LA Basin and Desert.

Tuesday morning was coldest in the Northern Tier.

It was colder still over Wyoming, Colorado and the western Plains yesterday morning with Daniel, WY taking the price for coldest at -48.

Yesterday morning lows were impressive. Check out the near -30 in western Nebraska, near 0 on the Texas Panhandle.

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As for this morning, it’s very cold in the wake of the storm which crossed Southern California and the Desert Southwest yesterday. Clear sky, light wind and a cold atmosphere is seeing lows dip into the 30s even for Downtown Los Angeles while it’s dropping into the 10s in the Antelope Valley, 0s around Big Bear. In fact it’s currently 23 degrees warmer up in Fairbanks, AK than at Big Bear where it’s 6

Heaviest Snow In Years For Parts Of Southern California/Southwest

Temecula reported 2″ which is their first 1″+ snowfall in over 10 years while Las Vegas reported a trace tying the record for most snow on New Years Eve. Last time a trace was reported at McCarran on Dec 31 was 1964. A foot of snow fell at Big Bear, CA.

Kingman, AZ area.

The Laughlin-Bullhead City area more known for it’s summer heat, reported snow along with a covering in the Lake Havasu City area of AZ.

Current surface pressure & 850 temp charts shows the cold air over the Southwest providing the unusual chill.

Brutal Cold Takes Aim At Midwest, East Next Week

There’s another strong arctic high coming south out of Canada next week. This one focuses on the Midwest and East rather than West.

GFS surface pressure shows another 1040+ high with even lower 498-504 thicknesses.

The GFS day 1-8 shows Minneapolis staying below zero for a 2 or 3 days late next week into the weekend with lows approaching -20.

Temps modify in the day 9-15 but the maximum is only 20.

The Chicago meteogram shows highs in single digits with lows near 0. This is probably conservative, particularly the lows.

See video for more!!

Taking tomorrow (2nd) off so will have a new update Saturday!

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