Skip to footer

Chicago gets snow, and the US gets an Arctic blast cold air

After a snow storm dumps as much as a foot of snow in some Midwestern states, an Arctic blast of cold air will push temperatures to as low as the teens in Georgia. Chicago airports are already experiencing delays and flight cancellations.

  • By Staff Associated Press

| Chicago

A winter weather system expected to dump more than a foot of snow in some places has begun its trek east, with a separate blast of arctic air right on its heels.

Here are some things to know about this latest round of weather and its expected impact:

EVEN COLDER TEMPERATURES COMING

The Alberta clipper-like system that has already dumped snow in parts of the upper Plains and Midwest was expected to leave as much as 5 to 7 inches in the Chicago area early Tuesday, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jamie Enderlen.

As the storm moves east across the Ohio Valley and Northeast, most areas will see accumulation of between 2 to 5 inches, she said. But some locations will be hit with heavier snow bands, including lake-effect snow, and could see accumulations up to 15 inches.

The system is likely to weaken as it nears the East Coast, but a couple of inches are possible Tuesday in mid-Atlantic states, according to the Weather Service.

After the clipper, a high-pressure system over Canada is expected to move toward the Plains Wednesday and then slide east, bringing unusually frigid temperatures to the eastern two-thirds of the United States, Enderlen said.

Parts of Georgia could see low temperatures Wednesday in the teens, and northern Florida is expected to be at or below freezing. From the Dakotas, across the Midwest and into the Ohio Valley, temperatures are likely to be below zero.

Come Thursday, New York City will "will be lucky if it hits 20" with lows near 10 degrees, according to Michael Musher with the Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center.

TRAVEL TROUBLES LIKELY

The Weather Service warns that snow-covered roads and reduced visibility will create poor travel conditions in many areas Tuesday, especially during the morning commute. Even after most snowfall has ended, increasing winds Tuesday could result in drifting snow.

At Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Monday night, airlines were reporting delays of 30 minutes for incoming and outbound flights and had canceled more than 230 flights, according to the city's Aviation Department. At Midway International Airport, about three dozen flights were delayed an average of 45 minutes.

Mike Gillispie, a weather service meteorologist in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said local road conditions "are going to be deteriorating very rapidly.

"If you don't have to be out and about, it's a good time to stay indoors," he said.

PLAN AHEAD FOR THE COLD

Officials in the coldest areas are urging residents to bundle up to guard against hypothermia and exercise caution while driving.

In Detroit and across Illinois, warming centers have opened to provide temporary relief from the cold.

RELIEF IS IN SIGHT

Temperatures are expected to be lower than normal for days but could rise a bit by the end of the week.

"We have cold temperatures, but it's not like it never happened before," said Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center. "It's typical for an Arctic outbreak."

___

Associated Press writers Sarah Rankin in Chicago and Blake Nicholson in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Chicago gets snow, and the US gets an Arctic blast cold air
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2015/0106/Chicago-gets-snow-and-the-US-gets-an-Arctic-blast-cold-air
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe