First Alert Weather: A bit of snow today, and tracking a major arctic outbreak
The next 6 to 10 days will bring dangerously cold temperatures to much of the U.S. Nearly 80 million Americans are expected to be dealing with sub-zero temperatures on Tuesday.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. The lake effect machine is taking a day off today and filling in will be a small scale disturbance moving on through the Great Lakes region, which will give us an inch or so of light snow. Winds will be in the 10-20 MPH range, which will make today’s high temperature of 26 degrees feel more like 16.
We get another little break from the bitter cold tomorrow and Saturday, with high temperatures reaching 34 and 37 degrees respectively. Friday will feature some sun poking through the clouds, and Saturday will have us dealing with a mix of rain and snow as southwest flow converges with an approaching cold front.
Behind that cold front sits a massive, deepening trough that will bring about an outbreak of arctic air for much of the lower 48. Temperatures will be dangerously low for many portions of the U.S., especially in the northern Great Plains where wind chill values will exceed -40 degrees; and on Monday and Tuesday morning every state except for Hawaii will be experiencing below freezing temperatures (yes, even Florida, where the low for Tallahassee on Monday morning could reach 28 degrees). As for us in the Rochester region, high temperatures will get down to the high 00s on Tuesday and low temperatures will be a few degrees below zero. The last time Rochester got that cold was February 4th, 2023, when we got down to -6. Please stay tuned as we continue to track the arctic air outbreak.
