Just in time for the holidays, an arctic blast has blanketed most of the United States with bitter cold, copious amounts of snow, and ferocious winds.
The “bomb cyclone” weather pattern is preventing travel and bringing on dangerous winter weather. What’s in store for the upcoming days, and where is this wintery weather coming from?
What is going on?
Temperatures are plummeting as a front of arctic cold air moves south.
According to Bob Oravec, chief forecaster for the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, several parts of the United States will have below-average temperatures.
The National Weather Service forecasts that temperatures might plummet by more than 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) in just a few hours.
On December 24, 2022, at dawn in Plant City, Florida, icicles are suspended from decorative plants. In order to protect their crops, farmers spray them using sprinklers.
The wind chill factor might reach dangerously low levels well below zero, which is enough to quickly result in frostbite. The wind chill could drop as low as -70 degrees Fahrenheit in certain areas of the Plains (minus 57 degrees Celsius).
The National Weather Service advised people in the Plains, Upper Midwest, and Great Lakes to prepare for blizzard conditions as strong winds whip up the snow.
Who will suffer from this?
According to Ryan Maue, a private meteorologist in the Atlanta region, nearly two-thirds of the country, or everyone east of the Rockies, will see extreme weather.
The Arctic front is expected to move east and south through Florida, keeping most of the West Coast from getting too cold.
Oravec warned that significant snowfall and strong gusts could be problematic for aviation travel.
Additionally, Maue warned individuals who were planning to travel for the holidays that “you’re going to have really serious whiteout conditions.”
How much time will it take?
A winter storm expert at Atmospheric Environmental Research named Judah Cohen says that this weather system is likely to cause a lot of “weather whiplash.”
It won’t be long before the cold is over. “Everything will snap back to normal” after the abrupt drop that will keep temperatures low for roughly a week, Cohen predicted.
After Christmas, temperatures should begin to warm up once more as they move eastward. They are expected to remain close to normal in the majority of the United States until the end of the year.
Why is this taking place?
According to Maue, it all began further north as cold air gathered over the snow-covered Arctic landscape.
The jet stream, which is a network of whirling air currents in the middle and upper regions of the atmosphere, then forced this chilly pool downward into the United States.
Dec. 22, 2022, downtown Minneapolis: Charles Zajicek sweeps snow off the sidewalk with a motorized sweeper.
The system can quickly develop into severe weather, including what is known as a “bomb cyclone,” a fast-developing storm in which atmospheric pressure falls very rapidly over the course of 24 hours. This is because the arctic air is being forced into the warmer, moister air ahead of it.
According to Maue, these extreme weather events typically develop over bodies of water because they provide the storm with a lot of warmth and moisture. But because of the large amount of cold air coming in, a rare bomb cyclone could form over land.
Is this standard?
As strong as the storm is, Oravec said it’s “not unheard of during the winter seasons.”
In the winter, it’s rather typical for chilly air to accumulate. But this week, changes in the jet stream have pushed the air more southeast than typical, according to Oravec, spreading the freeze across the nation and intensifying storm conditions.
According to Maue, the United States is unlikely to experience record-breaking low temperatures like the 1983 “cold snap” or the 2014 “polar vortex.”
However, Maue predicted that “for most people alive, this will be a memorable, top-10 extreme cold occurrence.”
