A blast of cold air is settling into the East Coast of the United States this week, even as people across the Great Lakes region continue digging out from a dayslong round of lake-effect snow that snarled Thanksgiving travel.
Temperatures were expected to drop to below freezing in every state east of the Mississippi River early Tuesday morning, and a few places may even set daily records for low temperatures. High temperatures will struggle to reach much higher through the day, with temperatures 10 to 20 degrees below normal. It is one of the first true blasts of cold for the Northeast, where fall has felt more like summer as recently as a few weeks ago — and temperatures later in the week may be even colder.
Though many places got a break from the heavy snow on Monday, winter storm alerts were still in effect Monday afternoon for portions of Southern Ontario in Canada and parts of Michigan, far northern Indiana, northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and western and northern New York.
This weekend’s lake-effect snow event should start to wind down into Tuesday, but forecasters described it as more of a “regime change than a change in weather conditions.” A storm system called an “Alberta Clipper,” a meteorological name given to winter storms that begin in Alberta, Canada, and quickly slide through the Midwest and Great Lakes regions of the United States, is expected to move in. This transition from just lake-effect snow will bring a weather system that could affect a larger part of the region, including the higher elevations of the Northeast.
Clippers are common during winter and often have lighter snow amounts; however, like this storm, they bring stronger, gustier winds and colder air, potentially the most frigid air of the season so far. While some snow amounts could be lighter, reduced visibility from blowing snow is possible.
Though the busy Thanksgiving travel was mostly over by the start of the week, forecasters said they expected travel to remain treacherous where the heaviest snow bands line up this week. In Michigan, at least one person was critically injured after a multivehicle collision that closed part of Interstate 94 near Hartford in Van Buren County on Monday afternoon, according to Michigan State Police. The police said the pileup had involved around 14 passenger vehicles and three semi-trucks.
“Driving too fast for conditions believed to be a factor with heaving blowing snow producing whiteout conditions,” the police said on social media.
In Western New York, where just over 54 inches of snow had fallen in the past four days on tiny Cassadaga in Chautauqua County, at about 10:30 a.m., local officials received reports a cattle barn collapsing in nearby Arkwright, said Justin Gould, a spokesman for the county government said.
Five cows out of about 100 kept in a barn died in the collapse, Mr. Gould said; one firefighter was injured in the effort to rescue the others. Because the barn is on a farm in a particularly remote area, the heavy snow had made it difficult for emergency services workers to get to the site, he added. A video posted online by a television meteorologist showed workers trying to clear snow off a second barn roof later in the day to avoid a second collapse.
The snow has piled up to over five feet over the weekend in an area known for snowfall, commonly called the “snow belt.” Lake-effect snow occurs when cold winds blow across an unfrozen and warm body of water, like the Great Lakes, causing moisture to rise and fall as snow downwind. This snow belt is on the eastern and southeastern shores of the Great Lakes, including Canada, where lake-effect snow generates, on average, more than 50 percent of the annual snowfall for this region.
More snow and more cold are on the way
After a brief warm-up Wednesday, the weather pattern will drop temperatures back 10 to 15 degrees below normal as another blast of Arctic air sweeps across the Eastern United States. This could mean snow in the Northeast, more lake-effect snow in the Great Lakes, and freezing overnight temperatures back through the South.
In New York City, where it has remained mostly dry since the cold, rainy Thanksgiving Day, the next storm could bring a mix of rain and possibly some snow Wednesday night into Thursday. After the moisture is gone, the city could see high temperatures on Friday and Saturday only in the 30s. The blustery conditions could make it feel even colder.
By Friday, some in the region may see at least some reprieve from the active weather, but another quick-moving storm could threaten the region again this weekend.
The post More Arctic Air and Snow Are on the Way appeared first on New York Times.