A powerful winter storm is set to bring heavy snow, strong winds, and blizzard conditions across the Midwest to the Great Lakes through Saturday, January 13, 2024. Following this storm, dangerously low temperatures are forecasted for the Rockies and Plains. This storm system is part of the same weather pattern that caused significant disruptions in southern Ontario, Canada.
The United States is bracing for its first significant Arctic air outbreak of the winter, impacting the north-central region with bitterly cold wind chills and extending through the weekend. The northern Rockies and Plains are particularly at risk, with the Arctic surge also expected to bring record-breaking cold to the south-central U.S.
Finland experienced its coldest January temperature since 2006 when Enontekiö Airport registered -42.4 °C (-44.3 °F) on January 4, 2024. The severe cold is not isolated to Finland, as nearby regions in Sweden and Norway have also reported record-low temperatures, indicating a widespread Arctic chill across the Nordic countries.
The United States is bracing for a widespread cold air outbreak, anticipated to affect much of the lower 48 states through mid-January due to a strong mid-level high pressure over Greenland and the negative Arctic Oscillation phase. Expected severe conditions include sub-zero temperatures and wind chills, widespread wintry precipitation, and potential flooding along the Eastern Seaboard.
As Arctic air sweeps across the Great Lakes, meteorologists are warning of the season’s first significant lake-effect snow event, poised to cause travel disruptions and potentially feet of snow in some areas. This weather phenomenon, intensifying early next week, is expected to bring hazardous conditions, particularly along I-90 and in snow-prone regions of Michigan, Ohio, and New York.
Europe is bracing for a major weather shift this weekend, as an intense Arctic cold outbreak targets eastern, central, and southeastern regions. The season’s most severe winter storm is set to hit the Balkan peninsula, potentially dumping up to 50 cm (20 inches) of snow across areas from Romania to Ukraine. This significant event is forecasted to extend into the end of November, contrasting sharply with the mild weather experienced in recent weeks.
The polar vortex, a large area of low pressure in the upper atmosphere that typically sits over the poles, is set to weaken as a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event unfolds in the northern hemisphere. This event has the potential to have a significant impact on winter weather, as it allows cold Arctic air to escape and cause outbreaks in Europe, Asia, Canada, and the United States.
A Sudden Stratospheric Warming event started over the weekend in association with a significant weakening or reversal of westerly winds circulating around the North Pole — between 10 and 50 km (6 – 31 miles) above the ground — the stratospheric polar vortex. …
An intense Arctic outbreak has brought rare May snow and record cold temperatures to parts of the northeast U.S. and Ontario, Canada, over the weekend. Cold temperatures are expected to remain for much of this week before warmer air returns to the eastern U.S., but…
An intense Arctic outbreak has developed over Russia, resulting in below-freezing temperatures in mid and late November, with Verhojansk station reporting a numbing -54 °C (-65.2 °F) on Tuesday, November 26, 2019. Although such temperatures are nothing new…
