Camilla Jessen
Weather alert issued as Christmas cold wave approaches.
Large sections of the United States are facing an early-season deep freeze, with meteorologists warning that mid-December could bring one of the harshest cold outbreaks anywhere on the planet.
The alert comes as millions begin preparing for Christmas travel and shopping.
Forecasters say temperatures from the Midwest to the East Coast are about to plunge far below normal, driven by an unusually strong dip in the polar vortex.
Major temperature drop
Judah Cohen, a climatologist at MIT, told USA Today that temperatures could fall 15 to 20 degrees below average during the third week of December.
“The cold the first week of December is the appetizer,” he said. “The main course will be in mid-December. The most expansive region of most likely extreme cold on Earth stretches from the Canadian Plains to the U.S. East Coast.”
Much of the Midwest is already feeling the early impact, with some areas seeing daytime highs in the teens and nighttime temperatures near zero.
Illinois and Missouri are among the states reporting the sharpest drops so far.
Polar vortex driving the freeze
The cold surge is tied to a southward shift in the polar vortex, which can push frigid Arctic air deep into the central and eastern United States.
Snow has already blanketed parts of Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, while Chicago’s O’Hare Airport recorded more than eight inches on Nov. 29.
Meteorologist Andrew Orrison told the Associated Press that “significant” snowfall is expected Tuesday, Dec. 2, across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
“It’s going to be the first snowfall of the season for many of these areas,” he said, adding that major cities are unlikely to see the heaviest totals.
Parts of New York and New England could receive up to eight inches, according to early forecasts.
Fox Weather reports that localized pockets could see as much as 12 inches as the storm intensifies.
Sources: USA Today; Associated Press; Fox Weather,
