BUFFALO, NY – Winter weather is making its presence known across the US as millions of people deal with the onslaught of a long-duration, lake-effect snowstorm that has paralyzed communities downwind of the Great Lakes.
And to make matters worse, rounds of arctic air will continue to invade the country and send temperatures tumbling below freezing in cities as far as the Southeast.
The FOX Forecast Center said the arctic blast from Canada has been sweeping across the central and eastern US, with temperatures in cities in the northern Plains plummeting below zero, and wind chills making it feel even colder.
“The afternoons really haven’t been too bad,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Ari Sarsalari said. “I mean, yes, this is cold air. But after you have a morning down around zero or the wind chills like below zero, you get up to about 30 degrees or so and yeah, you’ll still have your wind chills in the 20s, but it could be worse during the afternoon.”
It’s been downright frigid in the Midwest, too, with cities like Minneapolis also dipping into the single digits early Sunday morning.
With an arctic front sweeping through the region starting Monday, winds are expected to kick up, making it feel even colder.
The cold air is even pushing as far as the Southeast, with many cities there seeing the first freeze of the season as the winter chill moves a little farther south each day.
“I think another big story is how far to the south some of this air is going to make it,” Sarsalari continued. “It’s actually another reinforcing shot of some cold air that’s coming in out of Canada. It’s going to affect a lot of the Northeast, but it also makes it pretty far south.”
Cities like Tallahassee, Florida, dipped below freezing on Sunday morning.
And it appears as though the cold air will be sticking around for at least the next several days as round after round of frigid arctic air makes its way into the US.
The 6- to 10-day temperature outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center shows much of the eastern half of the US seeing below-average temperatures, with some of the coldest air making its way into the Northeast and New England.