Brutal Cold to Slam Much of US in First Week of March: Forecasters

Across the Midwest and Plains, wind chill warnings, watches, and advisories were issued by the NWS, on March 3, 2019. National Weather Service

Weeks after brutal, record-shattering cold slammed much of the United States, another blast of cold air is forecast to affect much of the country.

The National Weather Service (NWC) warned on March 3: “Temperatures will be 20 to 45 degrees below normal over the High Plains into the Mississippi Valley.”

Across the Midwest and Plains, wind chill warnings, watches, and advisories were issued by the agency.

The cold temperatures will come just hours after a major snowstorm is set to hit the Plains, Midwest, and the northeastern United States.

Forecasters noted that it won’t get as cold as the polar vortex outbreak in late January because it’s March and the extra hours of sunlight help.

Meanwhile, the Weather Channel said, “Wind chills in the minus 40s, even minus 50s were reported in parts of Montana and North Dakota” over the weekend. In Havre, Montana, wind chills dropped to minus 60 on Sunday.

Relatively low temperatures were recorded in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as well as Rochester, Minnesota.

On Sunday, Denver dropped to minus 6 degrees, the Weather Channel noted.

“At least the first half of the expression ‘In like a lion, out like a lamb’ will prove true this March,” AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Edwards wrote.

“Temperatures in Chicago have been at least 10 F below average for four of the last six days,” he added. “Early Monday morning, temperatures there could drop below zero again for the first time since January.”

“Throughout the central Plains, temperatures will fall nearly constantly through early Monday morning, from seasonal levels to the single digits or lower,” Edwards added.

AccuWeather noted that the cold air is coming from Canada and is spreading across the Plains, Midwest, and Northeast. Meanwhile, the Weather Channel said the latest cold outbreak is being caused by a blocked jet-stream pattern in the Arctic.

“Namely, a nose of high pressure aloft from the Gulf of Alaska to the Canadian Arctic is forcing bitterly cold air southward into the U.S. This arctic block has been responsible for abnormally mild weather in parts of Alaska, including record warmth at America’s northernmost city, Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow,” said the channel.

On Monday, places in Kansas and Missouri will see subzero temperatures.

“Monday morning will bring the second consecutive day of temperatures bottoming out at around 10 below zero in Minneapolis,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski wrote.

“For Minneapolis and many other communities in the North Central states, this will be the harshest March cold weather outbreak since 2014,” she added.

Ice will likely build up in the wake of the snowstorm, and due to the cold temperatures, ice-melting products won’t work as well.

Meteorologist and owner of Empire Weather LLC., Ed Vallee, explained the arctic breakout.

“A persistent anomalous cold will continue across the plains over the next week. This cold comes after a record cold February across this region, extending into the Canadian prairies. Heating demand will continue to run much above normal for Early March in this portion of the country with additional heating demand potential across the entire northern tier of the United States. In addition to the cold, yet another winter storm is forecast to impact the Northeast I-95 corridor Sunday into Monday with moderate to heavy snowfall expected,” Vallee said, reported ZeroHedge.