Hello everyone!

Today’s weather will be quiet for most of the US, outside of an Arctic cold front that will be moving southeast across the Great Lakes today. This front was discussed in detail a couple of days ago, and little of the information in that post has changed. Here’s a quick recap of the front and it’s impacts.

The front is visible on GOES-16 satellite imagery as the dip in the jet stream over the Midwest. The front is located at the leading edge of this dip, under the green colors of Eastern Canada that indicate rising motion/precipitation. The air behind the front is coming directly from the North Pole, and it will feel a lot like winter after the front passes through. The Great Lakes will get the front to finish moving through today, while the Northeast will get one more relatively mild day before the cold air arrives tomorrow.

Along the front itself, a round of snow squalls is expected along and west of the Appalachian mountains. Showers and squalls will run out of steam as they head towards the coastline. These squalls won’t last long, but they will be intense, with a quick 1-3″ falling in under an hour, especially at the higher elevations.

Winds will pick up behind the front as well, with gusts over 30 mph expected across the entire New York/New England area tomorrow morning. Higher elevation areas and areas along the shores of the Great Lakes will see much higher gusts, above 50 mph. These winds will be significant enough for some scattered power outages, which will be more impactful than normal given the cold weather that’s incoming.

How cold will it get? By tomorrow evening, temperatures will be 20 to 30 degrees below normal. A hard freeze is expected all the way to the coastline, and down south towards DC. Gusty NW winds will drop wind chill values well below freezing, even during the day. This is the first real blast of Arctic air we’ve seen since last winter, so bundle up!

Elsewhere across the country, things look pretty quiet with showers continuing in the Pacific Northwest and in the Southeast. Little in the way of noteworthy impacts are expected from either of those systems.

For more information on your local forecast: https://weather.us/

For more information on the local forecast for Maine and New Hampshire: https://forecasterjack.com/2017/11/09/the-calm-before-the-arctic-front/

I’ll be back Saturday with more weather information after experiencing the front firsthand in the mountains of New Hampshire tonight.

-Jack