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Unseasonably cold temperatures for Midwest and Plains, powerful storm for the Northeast

unseasonably-cold-temperatures-for-midwest-and-plains-powerful-storm-for-the-northeast

A strong cold front in the northern states will usher unseasonably cold temperatures into the Plains and Midwest Thursday into Friday, October 27, 2017, NWS warns. Frost Advisories, Freeze Warnings, and even some Hard Freeze Warnings are in effect. This front will also bring several inches of snow to portions of the Upper Midwest which could cause difficult travel conditions through Friday morning. A rapid cyclogenesis is expected to occur off the Eastern Seaboard Sunday – Monday, October 29 – 30 as a tropical disturbance undergoing extratropical transition enters a region of highly favorable upper-level dynamics, producing a potential heavy rain and wind event for portions of the Northeast.

"Powerful winds will continue to develop and spread east across the northern Great Plains and upper Midwest as a strong area of low pressure moves east from North Dakota across northern Minnesota into northern Wisconsin on Thursday," NWS meteorologist Frank Pereira noted.

Wind advisories or high wind warnings are in effect across much of the Dakotas, as well as portions of Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa, where sustained winds as high as 56 – 72 km/h (35-45 mph), with gusts to 96 km/h (60 mph), are possible.

A winter storm watch is currently in effect for portions of eastern North Dakota into northern Minnesota. Rain changing to snow will likely result in limited visibilities and possible blizzard conditions on Thursday.

Significant snow accumulations are possible across Minnesota, with the potential for several inches near the Canadian border.

This low pressure system is forecast to gradually weaken as it continues to drift east, moving from northern Wisconsin early Friday into northern Michigan by Saturday morning. Rain changing to snow may result in a few inches of accumulating snow across portions northern Wisconsin and the U.P. of Michigan.

South of the low, a strong cold front will push east across the Mississippi Valley while plunging south through the southern Great Plains. Shower and thunderstorms are forecast to develop along the front as it moves across the lower Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee valleys on Friday.

Behind the front, cold high pressure will settle southeast from western Canada into the central U.S. Friday high temperatures are expected to be several degrees below normal across much of Great Plains, as well as the mid and upper Mississippi valley.

Meanwhile in the Northeast, low pressure will track to the north, with rainy conditions continuing across much of New England on Thursday. Drier conditions can be expected by late Friday as the low lifts into eastern Canada. Over the weekend, however, a powerful coastal storm could bring damaging winds and flooding rainfall.

"Anomalous ridging across the Northeastern Pacific is expected to persist over the next couple of days and expand north across Alaska toward the North Pole," NWS meteorologist Sean Ryan said. "This will support a highly blocked northern stream flow from the North Pacific/Alaska into Canada, and a strongly negative Pacific/ North American teleconnection pattern (PNA)." 

"The result will be persistent troughing across the Central/Eastern U.S. and a relatively active storm track from the Great Lakes to the Northeast. Rapid cyclogenesis is expected to occur off the Eastern Seaboard Sunday – Monday, October 29 – 30 as a tropical disturbance undergoing extratropical transition enters a region of highly favorable upper-level dynamics, producing a potential heavy rain and wind event for portions of the Northeast," Ryan said.

Featured image: Minimum est. temperatures October 27, 2017. Credit: NOAA/NWS

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