Posted on 02/14/2025 11:55:20 PM PST by Morgana
America is bracing for a brutal Arctic blast as a massive polar vortex smashes the country bringing deep freeze and catastrophic winter storms.
Meteorologists are warning this will be the most punishing Arctic invasion yet, cementing this period as one of relentless, record-breaking cold.
Frigid forces in the Arctic are converging, pushing what should be confined to the North Pole deep into the US, several meteorologists tell The Associated Press.
This will be the 10th time this winter the polar vortex - which keeps the coldest air at the top of the world - stretches like a rubber band to send it south, said Judah Cohen, forecast director at the private firm Atmospheric and Environmental Research.
In a normal winter, it happens maybe two or three times.
This winter, with record snow in New Orleans and drought and destructive wildfires in Southern California, has not been normal.
The latest projected cold outbreak should first hit the northern Rockies and northern Plains Saturday and then stick around all next week. The cold will likely concentrate east of the Rockies with only the far American west and central and southern Florida exempted, meteorologists said.
On Tuesday, expect the Lower 48 states to have an average low of 16.6 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 8.6 Celsius), and then plunge to 14 degrees (minus 10 Celsius) on Wednesday, calculated private meteorologist Ryan Maue, a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
During these not unusual polar events, I think about how my ancestors coped living on homesteads in South Dakota 125 years ago. My father was born in a desolate part of northwestern South Dakota in a sod house, a common material for building your claim shack on the treeless plains. Somehow people seemed to survive.
In my area, the problem is the soils and time of year. Usually, if we got 8” of rain in a day, it’d be when there was lots of vegetation to help soak up and slow the impact, streams and rivers would be lower, and, soils would be drier. (Usually our big one-day rain events are in periods when the rains are “pulsy”, but monthly totals are not particularly impressive.)
Where my daughter goes to college, her car is parked in a lot that’s in essentially a big bowl. I just got off the phone with her & told her to ask around about if the lot flooded in a similar event (but with less areal coverage then) a few years back. Lots of damage in that one. :-(
If yes, she’s gotta find an elevated spot (a local strip mall that has quite a bit of parking?) to move the car to, and then get back to her dorm safely - could be problematic as there are some “valleys “ in between. Sheesh. I told her to ask around...
Did they have coal?
I usually survey hillsides and low spots.
wow -20 to -30 in chitown like that has never happened in history
geez un north in minn the wind chill will be colder
We bought one a couple of years ago, it doesn’t work for a living room with high ceilings. It does work if you put it in the basement, if you have a cold air return grate 16” X 20” in the floor to the living room. It heats both basement and the living room then.
It is everything and more! Everything costs 20-40 cents on dollar. People are honest, friendly, dignified, and hard working. I’ve spent much time in Bangkok and it’s my favorite big city in world. If you like to party, place has no equal and makes Vegas an overpriced joke.
Everything here is real, no fake and phoney.
I’ve been to several resort beach areas and even there, incredible value. Stayed at a place last year for $90 a night, would have been $500-800 per night in Hawaii.
My trips pay for themselves. 50k worth of dental work for 10, by staff far more professional than home.
Thanks! I’ll bump it up the list :)
Whew! Lots of flash flooding all along the track of this system. 7 states affected, with KY probably worst: 9 killed in KY, and 1000+ water rescues.
My daughter was able to get her car moved and got a ride back to her dorm, only to discover lightning had taken out the power across most of the campus, including her dorm, and some of the town. Hers was back on by yesterday mid-morning, but power was still out at a few buildings by late in the evening.
The biggest downpours were just to the south and east, so those areas got hit much worse than hers, or ours. We “only” got about 4.5” of rain, followed by an unexpected 1-1/2” of snow with sleet on the bottom: Pretty slick, but road surfaces were not really frigid and the road crews got out quickly. Our side yard still has a couple inches of water on it, and we are headed to below 20 F tonight, so we’ll have an ice rink out there tomorrow and several days after, as it’s gonna stay below freezing for several days. Next is ~6” of snow on Tuesday night (assuming it doesn’t grossly overperform, like last night!), followed by lows around 0 deg. F. Laughable to those well to the north, pretty “brisk” for us. Most winters we barely get down to 10 deg. F. The area kids will get a school online day for sure.
Stay warm.
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