12:00 PM | **Not quite done yet with the cold air outbreaks and snow across the northern US...heavy rain possible this weekend in the eastern US with next strong cold front**
Paul Dorian
Next week looks like a particularly chilly one across much of the nation with temperatures averaging some 15 to 20 degrees below-normal for this time of year. Map courtesy Weather Bell Analytics (Meteorologist Joe Bastardi, Twitter), ECMWF
Overview
The Phillies are scheduled to play the White Sox tonight in Chicago, but the day has started there with snow, temperatures near freezing and wind chills in the teens. In fact, snow is falling today across much of the Upper Midwest from Minnesota-to-Michigan on the north side to Illinois and Indiana to the south. Unfortunately, for those waiting on spring, it appears there will be additional cold air outbreaks across the northern US during the next couple of weeks and this will continue the threat of accumulating snow in many sections from the Rocky Mountain States to the interior Northeast US. The next cold air outbreak will arrive in the nation’s midsection by the upcoming weekend and the cold front at its leading edge could generate heavy rainfall in the eastern US from late Saturday into Sunday.
Two persistent upper-level features in coming days will be higher heights than normal (i.e., high-latitude blocking) across Greenland and northern Canada as well as low pressure (troughiness) over the eastern states. Map courtesy tropicaltidbits.com, ECMWF
Details
Just a couple of days ago, temperatures reached the 80 degree mark in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but today, there is snow on the ground and snow is falling across portions of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana with an unusual late season cold air outbreak. It appears additional cold air outbreaks during the next couple of weeks will delay spring in much of the northern US and the threat of snow will continue as well from the Rocky Mountain States to the interior Northeast US.
The overall weather pattern across North America during the second half of April will feature multiple troughs of low pressure in the eastern states at the same time high-latitude blocking (higher than normal 500 mb heights) intensifies over Greenland and northern Canada. This kind of a pattern typically allows for the transport of colder-than-normal air masses from Canada into the northern US and while there can certainly be days with above-normal temperatures, much of the time all the way to the end of the month will feature below-normal temperatures from the Northern Plains to the Northeast US. One such cold air outbreak has arrived in the Great Lakes/Upper Midwest today and cooler, breezy conditions are now pressing northeastward into the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast US on the back side of a cold frontal passage.
The next 15 days could feature accumulating snow throughout much of the northern US from the Pacific Northwest to the interior Northeast. Map courtesy Weather Bell Analytics (Meteorologist Joe Bastardi, Twitter), ECMWF
Temperatures will actually rebound markedly later this week in the eastern US with temperatures likely returning to the 80’s on Thursday and Friday in the I-95 corridor region from DC-to-Philly-to-NYC. In fact, temperatures on Friday could reach into record-breaking territory in parts of the Mid-Atlantic region including the Washington, D.C. and Philly metro regions. This late week dramatic warm-up, however, will be rather short-lived. Another strong cold front will slide eastward across the Ohio Valley on Saturday and much colder-than-normal air will flood the middle of the nation on the heels of the frontal passage. Heavy rain is quite likely in the I-95 corridor of the eastern US from late Saturday into Sunday…something not seen in quite awhile in many sections. Much cooler air will then follow into the eastern states on the back side of the strong cold front for the late stages of the weekend and the early part of next week. Looking ahead, it certainly appears that this next cold air outbreak will not be the last for the northern US.
As far as the Phillies and White Sox are concerned, they will likely be postponed tonight given the brutal weather conditions that are expected including winds gusting to near 40 mph, temperatures in the 30’s, and potentially more in the way of snow shower activity.
Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Arcfield
arcfieldweather.com
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