Saturday, December 3, 2011

Impending Cold Blast to Bring Frigid Temperatures to Widespread Region...



Bitterly cold air, with temperatures in the single digits both above and below zero currently resides over a large chunk of real estate to the North this morning, as noted by the varying shades of pink on the above image.


This cold air is forecast to make a big move Southward tomorrow and Monday.  While the coldness of the air will modify as it moves Southward, much below normal temperatures will still be felt across a widespread area, with the coldest daytime temperatures of the season expected across the central and southern Plains and Midwest.


The series of images below shows the forecast departure from normal temperatures across the country.  Each image is valid at 6pm CST beginning tomorrow, Sunday, and continuing through Thursday of next week.  Pay particular attention to the progression of the green (8-15 degrees below normal) and purple (20-30 degrees below normal) shaded areas over time:







During the 5 day period, the lowest temperatures are forecast to reach as low as zero or the single digits below zero across portions of the northcentral and central Plains (it will be even colder, of course, in the higher elevations of the Rockies):


The zero to sub-zero conditions in the Plains will take place on Tuesday morning, December 6th (and in the far North on Monday the 5th).  Also of note on the above image is the fact that the freezing line will reach all but the extreme southeastern and southwestern border areas during the period (the darker black line with "32" noted along it).

Of note for Texas, temperatures will only reach the 30s and 40s during the day Monday over most of the state (blue shaded areas on the image below, scale in degrees F on the right):


...reaching all the way to the Gulf Coast on Tuesday:


A large portion of northwest Texas and the entire panhandle region will not rise above freezing for 24 hours or more during this same period of time.

Once the cold air arrives across the heart of the nation, it plans to stay awhile.  In fact, the 8-day average forecast image below indicates that temperatures will remain below or well below normal across a large portion of the nation through at least December 11th (and there are indications that this cold wave may extend beyond that date in some areas):


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