brutal cold and snow

[WXBUFFJIM]

Good morning everyone. It's nasty outdoors, no doubt about it. A few current temps this morning at 8 am. It's minus 3 in Boston with a wind chill of -23. Burlington, Vermont is -15 with a wind chill of -31. Every reporting station from Boston northward through north central New England is below zero right now. Mount Washington, NH is down to 42 degrees below zero, winds nw at 75 mph, wind chill minus 97. Not pretty on top of Mount Washington at around 6000 foot elevation.
It will be even colder than these numbers Thursday night and Friday as the second much bigger cold snap plows in. Instead of it being the coldest weather in 10 years, it will be the coldest in over 20 years across New England. It's been 23 years since it's dropped to 7 below in Boston. It's been 46 years since it's dropped to 10 below in Boston. Both are highly possible. In New York City, it's been 60 years since it's dropped to minus 3. This arctic blast does mean business later this week.

As for the clipper system, it's bringing some snow into Wisconsin and Michigan right now. This snow will spread south and east throughout the day today. Duluth, MN for instance saw 4.8 inches of snow and International Falls saw 8 inches of snow from this clipper system. That's just a sample of what folks south and east of there will see. From Wisconsin through Michigan and north central Ohio, snow accumulation of 2-6 inches is expected to occur. Thus widespread winter weather advisories are in effect for the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. Detroit has seen 1 inch of snow so far and it's still coming down in through here.

By later tonight, snow is expected to move through the northeast and middle atlantic states. A winter weather advisory is out for most of Pennsylvania including Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Harrisburg. These areas can expect anywhere from 3-5 inches of snow with this storm system later tonight through Thursday morning. Philadelphia is under a winter storm warning and likewise Atlantic City. This is just minimal wintr storm criteria of around 4 inches of snow expected by morning for Philly with possibly 5 inches in Atlantic City and Cape May, New jersey by Thursday morning. Both Baltimore and Washington are under a winter weather advisory. Expect 2-4 inches in Baltimore and 1-3 inches in Washington by sunrise Thursday. New York City is also under a winter weather advisory with 1-3 inches of snow expected in the NYC area. Will this cause travel problems?? Sure, but it's certainly a snowfall we can handle from the great lakes through the Ohio Valley and the Mid Atlantic. As long as we take it slower than usual on the roads and be patient, you'll be fine and dandy.

The bigger concern is very strong winds in the wake of this clipper as it intensifies explosively offshore later Thursday. Gale force winds are expected on the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays northward through the Mid Atlantic and New England coastline where gale warnings and a heavy freezing spray warning are in effect. A very dangerous situation.

In addition to that, winds will reach advisory criteria in many places across the northeast and mid atlantic on Thursday if not already now. That means winds sustained at 25-35 mph with gusts between 40 and 50 mph are likely. This in combination with the cold temperatures will make for extremely dangerous wind chills on the order of -10 in Baltimore, -15 in Philadelphia and -20 in New York Thursday night and early Friday. Bostons low Thursday night is expected to drop to 8 below zero, the coldest in 23 years with wind chills down to
-40 degrees. Parts of Maine will see -60 degree wind chills and of course there is that coldest spot, Mount Washington, NH. They could drop down to minus 50 on the actual temperature, wind chills down to -100 or lower. That's indeed a possibility. It's -42 in Mount Washington, NH and while this is significant, it will be even colder as a bigger arctic cold snap plows in over the next 24 hours across the northeast and mid atlantic.

Bundle up and cover all exposed skin folks. Be careful in this cold.

Jim

[gboudx]

It'll be near 70 down here in Southern Louisiana. We had winter for about 1 week in total so far. Guess it'll be time to crank up the lawnmower soon. when the grass starts to grow.

[nystate]

-31 F this morning in Watertown with a -46 F windchill...if the mets are correct, tomorrow and tomorrow night will be much colder, with TWC saying winds up to 30 mph sustained during the day tomorrow combined with a high of --9 producing very dangerous windchills..

[rainstorm]

nothing here. dry and cold

[Anonymous]

Take care up north in the Northeast Corridor folks!!! Please dress in layers and cover exposed skin!! Use those Block warmers on your car too!!

Watch out for blowing snow up there in New Jersey!!! High winds, arctic temps and several inches of fluffy snow will combine to produce very low visibilities!


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