Arctic air plunges into the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic

Arctic air dropping through the northern and eastern U.S. and a storm off the east coast will bring periods of snow, very cold wind chills and hazardous traveling conditions from the Upper Great Lakes to the Northeast today, December 13, 2017. Maximum temperatures will be 5.5 to 11 °C (10 to 20 °F) below average along the East Coast Wednesday.

"After the departure of a coastal low impacting New England with a wintry mix early this morning, cold and breezy conditions will be left in its wake, especially across the Northeast where highs will struggle to get out of the teens and 20s for locations away from the coast," NWS forecaster Richard Otto noted. 

In fact, much of the East Coast will see high temperatures today around 10 °F below average, with near 20 °F below average across portions of the Northeast.

Lake effect snow showers will continue downwind of the Great Lake through Friday but there will be enough shifting of the wind direction to prevent much in the way of heavy accumulations.

A quick moving clipper system will track through the central Great Lakes region today bringing accumulating snow to portions of lower Michigan into portions of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Anywhere from 7 – 15 cm (3 to 6 inches) is expected for these locations through Thursday morning. A weak system is expected to move across the central Plains during the day on Thursday bringing light snow showers, possibly mixed with rain but any snow accumulations should be very light.

Featured image: GFS 850 hPa Temperature Anomaly for December 13, 2017. Credit: TropicalTidbits