A massive winter storm will stretch from coast to coast during the next several days, bringing severe impacts, Andrew writes.
Threat level: This storm will affect every region of the Lower 48 states, be it in the form of winter weather, severe thunderstorms, or unusual temperatures.
- As of Wednesday morning, about 75 million people were under winter weather alerts of some kind, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
- The Twin Cities are forecast to see one of their top 10 biggest snowstorms on record, with travel becoming difficult to impossible Wednesday afternoon into Thursday.
- In the East, June-like air temperatures are taking over the Southeast today and will surge into the Mid-Atlantic Thursday.
- An ice storm, potentially causing power outages, is forecast to hit areas from the southern Great Lakes into interior southern New England.
Zoom in: The stage is set for an epic clash of air masses, as Arctic air is already rushing into the West, where cold temperature records are likely to be set from Montana to California.
- Temperatures in Washington and Baltimore are likely to approach 80°F, about 40°F above average for this time of year, and reminiscent of June.
- If recent history is a guide, the warm records may outnumber the cold ones. In the long term, human-caused climate change is skewing the ratio in favor of the former, as cold outbreaks become shorter in duration and more moderate.
