Preparations are underway as an arctic blast dives into the nation’s interior and southern regions and pushes a snowstorm into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast that will be followed by lethal cold.
In key messages on the icy atmosphere, the National Weather Service said today that it would produce “the coldest air of the season thus far, and in many cases the coldest in several years.”
High pressure over Canada was pushing the arctic air south and east, with only the regions west of the Rocky Mountains spared its sting, federal forecasters said.
In fact, more than 212 million people, amounting to nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population, were under winter weather watches and alerts, including winter storm warnings, winter weather advisories and extreme cold watches Saturday evening.
At the same time, the air mass was finding friction amid the warmer air and fertile precipitation of the Gulf Coast and Deep South, an altercation feeding a snowstorm and cold wave expected to move across Texas, the Gulf Coast, the Deep South, Mid-Atlantic, the Northeast and parts of New England, weather service forecasters said.
While thunderstorms are expected in parts of Florida and the Southeast, the storm front was expected to make snow in the Mid-Atlantic, along the Appalachians and in the upper Ohio Valley on Sunday, as well as in the Northeast, where the storm would start Monday, federal forecasters said.
The National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Florida, warned of severe weather and heavy rain throughout the day and bitter cold starting Sunday night.
Describing the storm in its forecast discussion on Saturday as an “intensifying cyclone,” the weather service said 3 to 8 inches of snow was possible from West Virginia to the 95 corridor west of Interstate 95 in the urban Northeast and extending north to Downeast, Maine.
It would likely exit north and east into New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island in Canada early in the new work week, the weather service said.
Accompanying the storm will be plunging temperatures
Parts of the Midwest will freeze, with the weather service in Warren, Michigan, forecasting a temperature of 6 below by Tuesday night. Warren Mayor Lori M. Stone on Saturday declared a state of emergency in order to expedite help for homeless people who could be exposed to the mortal cold, according to a statement.
Five community centers will serve as warming stations in Columbus, Ohio, the city’s Recreation and Parks Department said in a post on X.
Federal forecasters also warned of temperatures as cold as 25 below zero could emerge in northern Indiana, southwest Michigan, and northwest Ohio from Sunday night through Wednesday morning.
In Chicago, sub-zero wind chill temperatures were due late Saturday and would be followed by wind chill readings as low as 30 below zero overnight Monday into Tuesday, the weather service said. Residents were warned about possible river ice jams, freezing spray for boaters who tread Lake Michigan and other waterways, and frozen water pipes.
Officials in Chicago provided a list of centers scheduled to open on Monday on the city website.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont urged constituents to prepare as 600 snowplows were readied for duty and 4 to 10 inches of snow was expected starting late Sunday afternoon, according to a statement from his office.
“Now is the time for motorists to plan ahead and get to where they need to be before the snowfall begins on Sunday afternoon,” the governor said in the statement. “Stay home if you can and watch football.”
A winter weather alert was issued for Sunday and Monday, the New York City Emergency Management Department said. The storm is expected to bring 2 to 5 inches of snow accumulation with the potential for higher amounts in some areas.
Temperatures are also expected to drop below freezing on Monday, the department said in a news release, warning that travel conditions could be “hazardous.”
“We’re expecting snow Sunday and a cold snap hitting the city tomorrow night through Wednesday. To keep streets safe and clean, city agencies will be implementing snow clearing protocol and reaching out to connect unsheltered New Yorkers to shelters,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned of “feels like” temperatures as low as 25 below in much of the state Monday through Wednesday. “I encourage everyone to make sure you and your family are prepared for the snow and extreme cold,” she said in a statement Saturday.
As the Buffalo Bills take on the Baltimore Ravens in a divisional round playoff Sunday in Orchard Park, New York, the location of the Bills’ home field at Highmark Stadium was forecast to see a low temperature of 15 degrees Sunday morning.
Citing the possibility of 8 to 12 inches of snow in parts of New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency scheduled for 8 a.m. Sunday and covering all the state’s counties, according to a statement.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott said his city wold join others in canceling celebrations of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a result of the life-threatening arctic blast, forecast to push wind chill-enhanced temperatures as low as 25 below in the region, according to the weather service.
“Baltimore, with the severe winter weather forecasted for this weekend, we have made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s MLK Day parade out of an abundance of caution for the safety of our participants and spectators,” the mayor wrote on Facebook. “Thank you for your understanding and support.”
The cold was also expected to strike many southern and sunbelt locations, where snow gear is rare.
Federal forecasters in Houston warned of wind chill-enhanced temperatures, which take into account what the air feels like when elements such as wind are included, as low as 25 degrees below zero between midnight and noon Sunday.
Jeff Lindner, meteorologist for Harris County, Texas, which underlies Houston, said at a news conference that home preparations should be completed Saturday as the forecast called for wind chill-enhanced temperatures in the teens and 20s by Monday.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire said at the news conference that the city will be opening 10 warming centers.
A cold-weather advisory was expected to be in effect for much of central and southern Louisiana and southeast Texas from early Sunday to Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service office that covers New Orleans called for a “hard freeze” to start Monday north of Interstate 12 and then spread to its entire region by Wednesday, with wind chill-enhanced temperates of 5 to 15 degrees expected.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced Friday that the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade and march scheduled to take place on Monday will not happen. City leaders will instead have a small recognition at the MLK monument on Monday morning because of the extreme weather conditions, she said.
Central Alabama is likely to experience wind chill temperatures near zero from Sunday night into Monday, the weather service office that covers Birmingham said. Seven warming centers across the state started opening Saturday and would continue coming online through Monday, the Alabama Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.
The Atlanta region was in for 8 to 12 degree temperatures that could feel like minus 5 when wind chill consideration is included, the National Weather Service said. A cold weather advisory for the region covers Sunday night into the start of the afternoon.
“Please begin to take precautions this weekend,” the agency said in a post on X.
South Carolina’s Emergency Management Division urged residents to prepare Saturday for a blast of Arctic air expected by Sunday night. Snow and ice could impact parts of the state through Wednesday, it said in a statement.
