Blizzard warnings have been issued for parts of four states as a cold front brings yet another blast of bitterly cold wind into the northern U.S., hot – or rather cold – on the heels of a polar plunge that set temperature records in the South and East Thursday morning. This new blast will also set the stage for another round of heavy lake-effect snow in parts of the Great Lakes as the weekend approaches. Current Winter Radar Enlarge Current Winter Radar Information updates every 5 minutes. Current Winter Storm Alerts Enlarge Current Winter Storm Alerts Watches, warnings, and advisories issued by the National Weather Service. Map updates once an hour. Blizzard Conditions: Dangerous Travel The aforementioned cold front, known as an Alberta Clipper, will dive southeast from Canada into the Upper Midwest and northern Plains Thursday and Thursday night. Snowfall totals only around an inch or so are expected in parts of the Dakotas, western Minnesota and northern Iowa. However, strong northwest winds gusting to 50 mph behind the arctic front are producing widespread blowing snow in rural areas, reducing visibilities to near zero in some areas. These winds will continue into the late evening hours over parts of eastern South Dakota, southern Minnesota, and northwest Iowa. The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for those areas, as well as rural areas of in parts of eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota. (INFOGRAPHIC: Blizzard Facts and Myths) This is whats known as a ground blizzard, namely, in the lack of heavy falling snow, loosely-packed snow cover is whipped by the wind, reducing visibility in some areas. The visibility will be worst in open areas such as farm fields and prairies. In forested areas, as well as cities and towns where trees and buildings block the wind, visibility will not be as bad. Compounding the danger are continued, brutal wind chills in the 30s below zero or colder, at times. (MORE: Arctic Cold Blast Continues) These strong winds will subside on Friday in the northern Plains as the Alberta Clipper sweeps quickly east and high pressure builds in. More Lake-Effect Snow A beefy lake-effect snow event squeezed in on Monday, after Winter Storm Frona and before Winter Storm Gorgon. That lake-effect episode dumped a quick 28.5 inches of snow near Fulton, New York, which is in the Lake Ontario snowbelt in Oswego County. Fridays Forecast Enlarge Fridays Forecast Another round of lake-effect snow is expected Friday. Forecast high temperatures are shown for selected cities. Snowfall Forecast Enlarge Snowfall Forecast Forecast snowfall through early Friday evening from all sources -- lake-effect and Thursdays clipper. Also this week, 23.5 inches of snow blanketed areas near Watertown, New York through Wednesday morning. A band of snow off of Lake Erie yielded 14.5 inches of snow in Elma, New York in 24 hours through 7 a.m. EST Wednesday morning. As you may recall, parts of the Buffalo Southtowns picked up 7 feet of snow in the historic lake-effect snowstorm in November 2014. Unlike that event, wind directions wobbled around quite a bit this week, preventing the sort of firehose effect where one band sets up and hammers the same area for a long duration. Bands of heavy lake-effect snow also sagged southward over the Cleveland metro area briefly early Wednesday morning. In Michigans Upper Peninsula, a stretch of M-28 between Marquette and Munising, Michigan was closed into Wednesday due to whiteout conditions. Multiple snowbands also blanketed parts of northern and western Lower Michigan into northern Indiana. Eleven inches of snow was measured near New Era, Michigan. Several other locations picked up over 6 inches of snow, including Grand Haven (8 inches). The above-mentioned clipper will deposit a broad area of snow in the Great Lakes and Northeast Thursday into the first half of Friday. Then, cold winds blowing over the Great Lakes will kick in lake-effect snowbands in many of the same Great Lakes snowbelts that have been blanketed already this week. Some of the most favored snowbelt areas will likely register another foot or more of additional snow until the lake-snow machine gradually winds down Saturday. Some areas east of Lake Ontario could receive more than two feet with this next snow blitz. As touched on already, strong winds both ahead of and behind the Alberta Clipper cold front will also lead to areas of blowing snow, reduced visibilities and dangerous travel conditions.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 16:17:40 +0000
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