High-impact storm to wreak havoc on holiday week travel
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A massive storm system will affect most of the country this week leading up to Christmas Eve, with the most significant impacts to major travel hubs from the Midwest to the Northeast expected Thursday and Friday.
The storm will begin to organize on Wednesday, bringing snow and wind to the Rockies and northern Plains.
On Thursday, heavy snow with strong winds will move into the Midwest, Great Lakes and central Plains. At the same time, the rain will spread across the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Blizzard conditions are likely with the combo of heavy snow and wind gusts in excess of 50 mph possible.
According to the forecast on Monday morning, Friday is set to be the highest impact day, given snow will still be falling hard across parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes as winds roar across these regions.
On Friday, the winds are forecast to be the strongest not just across the Midwest and Great Lakes but also across the Northeast and New England. Even the Southeast will experience strong winds. Blizzard conditions will be ongoing for areas still experiencing the snow.
While too early to predict exact snow totals across the Midwest, Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, there is a likelihood of a foot or more in several spots.
As snow is falling across the Midwest and Great Lakes, the I-95 corridor will be getting lashed with torrential rain and strong winds. While the dominant precipitation type from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast is expected to be mostly rain, it could end as a burst of snow on Friday as the storm exits and arctic air rushes in.
All of the major airport hubs will be affected
Chicago can expect snow and powerful winds beginning Wednesday night and lasting through Friday night.
Atlanta, while on the lighter rain side of the storm, will still get strong winds that could cause air delays for flights at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which consistently ranks as the world's busiest.
Washington's heavy rain on Thursday and the rain and wind combination on Friday will cause major issues. Despite the precipitation ending late Friday, strong winds lingering in the first half of Saturday could continue to spark delays until the winds subside.
New York City area airports will also be in for a long stretch of delays beginning with the rain on Thursday, and the number of delays and likely cancellations are expected to get worse on Friday due to high winds accompanying the rain.
Boston will hold onto the precipitation the longest into the holiday weekend, with the rain beginning Thursday and not ending until early Saturday. High winds will also lead to delays and cancellations.
Whether the hubs are experiencing rain or snow, all will experience strong winds that will compound delays and lead to all-around uncomfortable flights due to turbulence.
Travel on the roads will be equally hazardous. Whether blizzard conditions producing whiteout visibilities across the Midwest or heavy rain causing blinding spray on the windshields, Thursday and Friday won't be great days to be driving or flying.
In addition to the large storm this week, an arctic outbreak that gets started Monday across the northern Plains will affect everyone east of the Rockies by Christmas weekend.
Temperatures this week will be 30-40 degrees below average, resulting in bone-chilling temperatures and these headlines to watch out for:
- Wind chills as cold as 60 below zero across the Rockies and northern Plains.
- Many locations in the northern Plains and Upper Midwest will experience their first sub-zero high temperatures.
- A few record lows will be possible, including for Denver, which is forecast to hit 16 below zero on Friday
- Of particular concern are below-freezing temperatures headed for Texas, which could arrive Thursday night and last into Saturday. This will spark energy and pipe-freeze concerns late in the week for areas as far south as Houston. Wind chill warnings are likely all the way to the Gulf Coast.
- Once the arctic air spills south and east by the end of the week and into the weekend, it could result in the coldest Christmas in years for many.
- The cold air will rush in so fast it could cause a flash freeze. New York City, for example, will go from a high on Friday around 56 to a low Saturday morning of 19 — a 30-degree temperature drop in less than 12 hours.
Not even Florida will escape the cold weather. Low temperatures this weekend will be 20s across northern Florida, 30s in central Florida and 40s for South Florida.
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For us in MA it will come in the form of heavy rain Thursday night into Friday.
Where I am in Michigan, it's uncertain if we will have a foot or more of snow or it will come as ice and rain then some snow. With the cold temperatures following this storm, I'm hoping for the snow to help insulate against the cold and wind infiltration.
Under those conditions, snow may be the best option.
Whew, dodged a bullet, instead of what was earlier forecast, now it will just be a blizzard so I get my wish it will just be snow (well, I guess it will be windy also, 50+ mph gusts) and it gets started tonight. The center of the low will pass just south of us giving us the enhanced lake effect off Lake Huron to the east and as it passes the winds will kick in from the NW producing ground blizzards through Saturday.
For us heavy rain starts tonight all through tomorrow which will be 60 degrees. Then as the rain ends Saturday we have two days with highs in the mid 20's. Needless to say they'll need to treat the roads as the rain ends.
Well that was a strange turn of events, the low pressure, instead of passing south of us, went right over us, we ended up with rain which quick froze and only 3" of snow not hardly enough to insulate anything. I just talked to my brother who lives 4 miles to the west and he wasn't sure he would be in today because he got 8" of snow and no rain.
Spent yesterday getting ahead on firewood and preparing a snowblower for use today, but with only 3" it's not worth it to even use it now, the winds are here but not enough snow to cause any major drifting.
It is now 9 deg.
Here in the central valley in Cali we're expecting to miss this entire storm. Expecting lows in the upper 30s and, depending on how much the fog lifts, maybe make it to the low 50s for high temps. Gotta love California!
The weather is good. Just about everything else out there sucks.
typical
... not as much as parts of MA.
Iowa City IA, this morning, -10, now -4
Fort Worth TX this morning 6, now 11.
At least it's a "warming trend".
Another reason I'm glad to live in the SE corner of the Sonoran Desert in AZ. Was 25 degrees this morning and currently 65 degrees right now.
I remember one day in Tubac, family came to stay overnight and go to Old Tuscon the next day.
It was 85 when they got there and the kids wanted desperately to go in the pool
but we went out to dinner instead, so the next morning they were lined up and already to jump in at the same time.
I can say I have seen at least one person walk on water, lol!
I walked on water in Antarctica. It was 72 inches of frozen ice though with a C-5 Galaxy sitting on top of it! Ain't nobody can top that for a White Christmas!😁
We keep having just enough snow to break out the snow blower every other day this week. So, I get to work a full 8 hours today AND THEN clean up the snow we got overnight. hmmm.... maybe the boss will give me time at lunch to break out the snow blower and get most of it done while the sun is out. Then we get another round on Wednesday and another on Friday into Saturday...
here in denver, below the arctic circle states with 300+ days of sunshine a year, if you have a home that faces south or west, that usually means the sidewalk and driveway are clear by the time you get home. the ultra low temperatures cull the vehicles from the roads that aren't properly maintained and the greatest danger is getting hit by vehicles with southern license plates at icy intersections being driven by those with no concept of applied physics.
I don't go to work on days that are icy or snowy. I don't mind taking a day off just to stay alive
Like I told somebody here the other day: "You don't think John Wayne would be sitting home just because it's snowing, do you?"
He'd be sitting on his yacht in Newport Harbor, Newport Beach, CA.
Some people just don't understand what it's like to live in the South with a bunch of people who never learned how to drive in snow and/or ice
Why not, he earned it.
It was a response to your comment:
No, he wouldn't, he'd be sitting on his yacht in Newport Harbor.
Must have gone over your head.
You should have left it as it was.
Never explain a joke. It dies a thousand deaths that way.
From your response, it was obvious that you didn't understand it. It was probably a brain freeze from sucking on the ice cream cone.
Several truckers from my area have related stories about driving through the south after a snowstorm and the state police having shut down the freeways and when they asked the troopers why the shutdown, because this is nothing compared to what the winters are like in Michigan, the trooper askes "you're from Michigan?" "Yes" they then let the trucker onto the freeway.
I had the experience of driving a truck up from Florida and due to a snow storm ended up on 65 north in Indiana, there was a long incline and traffic was lined up and crawling in the right lane in a three lane area and they had packed the snow to a sheet of ice in that lane, I thought this is insane and even though there was 3 - 4 inches of snow in the other two lanes, I pulled out into the left lane and passed the entire line doing 55 mph, because you still have traction in snow, I looked in the rear view to see if anyone else took the hint and no one did.
That could explain why some truckers here when it snows act like idiots. I was tooting along one afternoon while it was snowing and not driving like a maniac. Well some trucker decided he didn't like my speed so he whips around me and proceeds to throw a whole bunch of snow up on my windshield. I had a few choice words.
I understand how frustrated truckers used to snow and ice conditions can get with Southerners. I grew up in the North with lots of snow and ice but even I don't chance going fast just like I did when I lived up north. Truckers need to understand that people are nervous so tailgating them and then whipping around and throwing snow up on them aren't going to endear truckers to people who live here.
I have dozens of driving thru colorado blizzard stories. my favorite is being passed on the interstate by a big ass speeding rental jeep SUV filled with college age assholes flashing the brights, honking, yelling, and waving at the sane drivers as they flew by during a ground blizzard. meh, whatever.
not less than a mile further up the road, the same SUV is upside down in the median looking like it rolled a few times. their skis and snowboards are scattered around the SUV sticking in the snow and they're all standing there on the side of the road looking more than a bit dejected. I drove by them flashing my brights, honking and waving...
You hope they learned a lesson...but they probably didn't
WTF does that have to do with anything? Just another insult
Quite obvious Kav!!!!
It's what he does and he gets away with it. I say he's a suck up and get a taunting ticket...WITH POINTS!
Or on his ranch outside of Springerville, AZ.
The forecast here at present is 6 to 12 inches between Wed and Saturday. Saturday could see blizzard conditions and power outages.
I feel for you. Stay safe and warm
And don't over-do the shoveling, we want you around.
-12 this morning on the way to work. The updated forecast has the snow starting today and clearing out by Friday morning. Also snow totals for us have lowered to 3 - 6 inches. The bigger snow track keeps moving around... The good thing about this storm is it's fast moving. Last week's dump of the wet heavy snow lingered sat over the top of us for a few days.
Happy Holidays! Stay warm and safe everyone!
Thanks! This stuff is light and fluffy so I can use the snowblower. One of the guys in my office building said he'd bring in his plow truck tomorrow and get the area in the driveway I just couldn't shovel and is now mostly just hard packed icy crap.
Just looked out the window and the snow has started already...
Y'all have my sympathies down here on the border!
We are currently having a wildfire in Colorado's Northern mountains. Decent snows higher up the mountains, but the East Slope hasn't had much so far, so the fuels are still quite dry.
Denver may get a little snow, but the main impact will be the cold. The high on Thursday is forecast to be close to 0, with lows on Wednesday and Thursday nights around -10. These temps are nowhere close to the record lows.
The good news is it should warm to around 50 by weekend.
They're calling for -15-30 wind chills here in Arkansas. That's frigging cold........
Damn. Reminds me of living in Michigan
I'm gonna think Santy Claus picked me up and dropped me back in Indiana County, PA
Morning Trout..well that will just about snap freeze everything...🥶
It's Arkansas. We're in the Southern US...it's not supposed to do that! I dealt with it in North Eastern US...BUT IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THAT HERE!!!!!
Sounds like time to shift...
Can recommend a very large land mass in the Southern Hemisphere..hmm second thoughts you may prefer the cold to being eaten, stung or bitten to death. Plus we have Vegemite and that kills everything..
that's a sand covered low mesa surrounded by oceans...
😁😁 and we love every square kilometre of it .🦘🐨
Morning.... meanwhile in the Land Down Under...26c here today..
So breaking out the bathers, sunscreen, Areo guard (fly repellent) and boogie board..😁🌊🏖️☀️
Oh, yeah. Stop bragging. LOL!
Us brag....never!!..🤣🤣
(psssst- very few here know what that means)
We are going to get a cold couple of days in central Florida. Christmas Eve and Christmas day are going to have highs of 47 and 49 degrees.....But then again listening to the weather report by my cousin, Luther Walks the Horse a few years ago reminds me of why I live in Florida.
The high temp the day of the report was minus 25 with a low of minus 41 degrees.
My son is coming from the Florida panhandle on Saturday. I guess he wont' miss the cold snap in Pensacola
“My son is coming from the Florida panhandle on Saturday…”
And mine are coming in from NYC and LA, weather permitting. Enjoy the time, Trout…the older I get the more I realize how precious these times. Happiest of holidays!
It's really the only Christmas gift I wanted. Now I will have both of my children around me for the holidays
Not with the temps you're going to be getting in Arkansas.
Morning...what is a panhandle?? I have seen that mentioned a few times..
I picture a fry pan handle for some reason and I am sure it is not that...
A panhandle is a irregular strip of land extending from the main body of a state as in the "Panhandle of Oklahoma"...
Florida panhandle.
colorado, no panhandle, except for a shitload that rise vertical up to 4.3 K meters, metres, whatever...
that whole state is a panhandle...
I just read this on USA Today -
I hope Red brought her fur coat with her.
Christmas Eve it will be below freezing here. Buuurrrrrrrr
I made it into the office this morning. The snow total on my iPhone weather app says 7+ inches. It's more like 5+. It's cold as the Viking's Helheim and the roads are just awful. The wind is starting to pick up. I just locked the wheels into AWD and took things slow.
sheltered location outside , so no wind chill effect there , and the picture isnt out of focus in the back ground , thats frozen fog , pogonip floating around , taken about 15 mnis ago.
Thanks Mark, I had never heard of pogonip. That's brutal.
DAMN!!!
we got about 5-6 inches of snow yesterday i left that because the wind was wicked about 30 mph with really high gusts , im in the process of putting on layers of carhart right now , hopefully either the ATV or the snow blower will even start , not even going to try and turn over the car even with the block heater plugged in . im waiting to see if that temp needle tries to climb out of its basement .
The plus? have coffee , hot chocolate and a wood fire going for while i wait .
Stay safe. We had our winter cold the past few days and it's past now so the weekend should be back to 70. Still cool but much better than where you are at...
we have been bouncing between 20 and neg 20 at night for the last week or so , this just weeds out those that cant take it . if i didnt have tenents , i would leave it and stay warm.
* HAAAA, just tried the snow blower , wont even turn , makes a groan like its telling me to go get..... looks like a couple hrs wait now .
When is the last time you checked in with them?
about 5 mins ago , the 87 yo was out clearing off his truck ( I hope, if i reach his age , i have half the energy and gumption that guy has ) , hadnt started it yet ,or tried to , he saw me try and start the blower and said well might just have to stay in today ...
I'm not even going to bother until tomorrow when I have a day off of work.
i ended up wheeling it into my mud room where its "slightly warmer and i can set a box heater , after 30 mins it fired right up. the car and the ATV with the plow , now they are being stubborn .
Morning...hmmm noooo noooo..not for me I am afraid..
Have only lived one season with snow in England and it was a novelty and quite enjoyable at that time.
To cop it year after year and watching cars, trucks, buses and people sliding around..or seeing people chiseling off ice on their windscreens..no longer on my list of things to do...
Nope sun sand and surf for me I am afraid...🏖️🌊🏊☀️
Stay safe and warm... And looks like you have got a White Christmas. 🎄🎄🎄🎄
Record official 24 hour temperature drop in Denver. Went from +50 to -22 = 72 degrees out at DIA, which is about ~25 miles Northeast of downtown.
Also the largest one hour temperature drop....+43 to +5 = 37 degrees, between 4-5 PM
Should have wrote +42.
Computer weather says 8 and the wind is blowing hard so I fired up the gas grill, put a little charcoal on top and grilled a cold weather steak. Grill was hot and it did not take long. Turned out real good. Cold brew to wash it down.
We are freezing....24° here.
Not use to these temps.