Coldest Air of Season so Far Hits US East Coast

The National Weather Service's map of watches and warnings for Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. Weather.gov

The coldest temperatures of the fall 2022 season have descended on parts of the U.S. East Coast and Midwest this week and may deliver snow in some areas.

The National Weather Service predicts “heavy snow likely over portions of northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula” and noted that “moderate to heavy snow is also expected over portions of northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula today, while cold northwesterly flow on the backside of a deep area of surface low pressure generates lake effect snow.”

“Winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories remain in effect for these areas as a result. Heavy rainfall and flash flooding is likely to focus along the leading edge of a cold front, which is pushing through Maine today,” it said in a Tuesday morning update. “Some rounds of light rain showers and thunderstorms may materialize over southern Texas and Florida today as the aforementioned cold front pushes through those areas.”

Forecasters with private service AccuWeather say that snow has “quickly piled up” in the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin. Over a foot of snow has fallen in some spots, with locally up to 18 inches in some spots.

Snow was also reported Monday in northern Indiana, forecasters say.

“People should not expect a lot of snow anywhere from the shores of lakes Erie and Ontario to the mountains in West Virginia, western Maryland, western Pennsylvania and western, central and northern New York state,” stated AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brian Wimer.

The relatively cold air is expected to subside by the end of this week, according to the Weather Service, adding that most areas will see upticks in temperatures on Friday.

Meanwhile, U.S. natural gas futures held near a three-month low as forecasts for milder weather through the end of October offset forecasts for higher demand than previously expected. Gas futures have been declining for eight weeks on record output and reduced liquefied natural gas exports that have allowed utilities to inject much bigger than normal amounts of gas into storage over the past month.

The European Union was due to propose on Tuesday afternoon its latest response to an energy crunch that has prompted some European governments to draw up emergency plans that could mean rationing and blackouts this winter if supplies fall short. Because of the European shortage, Biden administration officials said that the U.S. would not impose any restrictions on exports of natural gas this winter.

However, some power companies and grid operators in New England warned this week that if the 2022–23 winter is especially harsh, there might be power outages in the region due to pressures on natural gas supplies.

Reuters contributed to this report.