An arctic blast is set to produce dangerously cold weather for millions of Americans this week. The temperatures are expected to be the coldest felt so far in 2023, meteorologists warn. It comes after many parts of the country have experienced a period of abnormally little snowfall so far this year.
The latest winter storm on Sunday prompted the National Weather Service to alert motorists to snowy and potentially hazardous travel conditions in the San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
Temperatures are forecast to be 30F to 40F degrees lower than average on Monday, and Tuesday this week.
Highs were around 25 to 40 degrees below average over the weekend for much of the central and northern Plains and Midwest, with highs more than 30 degrees below average from Montana to western Kansas, according to the Fox Forecast Centre.
The weather, the coldest seen since December’s deadly “bomb cyclone”, is expected to carry on into the week in some areas.
At night time, freezing temperatures will also be felt by more than 20 million Americans living across 15 states, including from Idaho to Michigan.
Cold winds in the negative 30s and 40s will make the weather even more unbearable and could cause frostbite in less than 15 minutes.
Residents in eastern North Dakota, northwestern Minnesota, eastern Idaho and western Wyoming have all been placed under wind chill advisories.
Meanwhile, as many as 14 million residents across 12 states in the Northern Rockies and Northern Plains have also been placed under wind chill advisories by officials.
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The freezing conditions are a result of an interaction between an arctic air mass and moisture, National Weather Service meteorologists said.
The service warned of a “prolonged and potentially significant” icing event, expected in an area from the southern Plains to the Tennessee Valley.
The freezing temperatures are expected to continue, along with heavy rainfall and scattered flash floods, across eastern Texas and the lower Mississippi Valley on Wednesday.
As well as a threat of frostbite, the arctic blast is also set to significantly disrupt the traffic network, causing dangerous travelling conditions as freezing rain and sleet is forecast for parts of Texas to the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys.
On Sunday the National Weather Service warned: “Travel could be very difficult.”
Millions of Americans were subjected to freezing temperatures in December as a bomb cyclone storm left at least 17 dead.
But unlike last month’s deadly weather, the latest intrusion of cold air will be limited in how far it sinks to the south and is expected to be most severe across the northern tier of the country.
