The winter storm outlook in 6 maps, from arctic blasts to bomb cyclones

1. Beautiful animation depicts the brutal cold that sweeps through much of the country

This animation shows forecast temperatures across the United States for 48 hours starting Wednesday afternoon. If it weren’t for the real-life effects of a brutal blast of cold air, you might mistake it for a beautiful work of art.

The forecast, in which purple and white represent temperatures 30 to 50 degrees below normal, has already materialized over much of the Northern Plains, where temperatures fell to -10 to -30 degrees Celsius on Thursday. Teens and single digits made their way down to the northern half of Texas as of noon Thursday.

If you thought the coldest air (whites and purples) looked like it was coming due south from Siberia, you’re right!

2. Upside Down Temperatures Make Oklahoma Colder Than Alaska

At noon Thursday, the Arctic blast was leaving its mark on single-digit temperatures far south of Oklahoma. Oklahoma City was 13 degrees as a result. colder More than Utkiagvik, Alaska’s northernmost city, as mentioned above. Considering the wind, Oklahoma City felt like minus 22 degrees, while Utkiagvik’s wind chill was 5 degrees for him.

The world should be back to normal again by Friday, when Oklahoma City is projected to hit a relatively mild high of 19 degrees Celsius, but Utqiagvik may only be able to manage a high of 4 degrees Celsius.

3. It looks like it’s going to be very cold according to the “feels like” forecast

This National Weather Service “apparent temperature” forecast, or what I call wind chill, shows how cold the air is expected to feel at 7 a.m. Friday. It ranges from -30 to -50 in the North Plains and most of the Midwest, -20 to -30 in the Central Plains, and from zero to -10 in Central Texas and the North. Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia.

From Friday night through Saturday morning, wind chills of zero to nearly minus 20 degrees will reach the mid-Atlantic and northeastern Atlantic, with single-digit and 10-degree winds blowing along the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern coasts. is predicted.

Frostbite can occur within minutes in such extreme cold.

4. Watch the freezing cold head east

As impressive as the low wind chill value is the speed at which wind-chilled air moves across the country from west to east. This zoomed-in view of the National Weather Service’s high-resolution NAM model shows how fast cold air is predicted to travel eastward and how steep the gradient is between relatively warm air and dangerously cold winds ahead of the front. You can see if Chill behind the front.

We’ve already seen how quickly this Arctic front can bring down temperatures in places like Casper, Wyoming, with wind chills as low as minus 65 degrees for 24 hours. On Wednesday, in Denver, temperatures dropped to a record 37 degrees in an hour, and Thursday morning’s wind chill dropped to minus 40 degrees.

5. Monster winds creating giant waves on the Great Lakes

This experimental wave model, run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Laboratory, predicts massive waves on Lake Superior, peaking Friday through Saturday. Winds from the northwest blowing 50 to 60 mph or slightly higher from noon Friday through early Sunday, so water is expected to pile up in waves of 20 feet or more across the southeastern portion of the lake.

A major icing warning is in effect for central, eastern, and western Lake Superior late Thursday night through late Friday night as temperatures are in the single digits to the 10s. According to the National Weather Service, “frozen spray is expected at velocities of 2 cm or more per hour and can rapidly accumulate on vessels.”

High waves are predicted for several of the other Great Lakes, as shown below.

6. Blast cyclone likely as storm rolls east

The storm will intensify rapidly along the Arctic front and will likely meet the criteria for a ‘bomb cyclone’ requiring a pressure drop of at least 24 mbar in 24 hours. The animation is a forecast by a European model, predicting that the storm pressure will drop from 1005 mbar in Indiana to 961 mbar in southern Quebec.

Generally speaking, the faster the storm pressure drops, the more extreme weather will occur. In this case, precipitation is not as extreme as seen in other blast cyclones. Very impressive is the speed and strength of Arctic air, which, like gusts of wind, helps push storms southward.