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We want to look at some travel problems in the bitter cold arctic air that is invading the USA:
ST. LOUIS
Numerous showers and thunderstorms by late Wednesday and Wednesday night. Blustery and much colder Thursday with rain changing over to freezing rain and sleet in the afternoon as temperatures fall into the 20s. Significant ice accumulations possible. Even colder Thursday night with heavy snow and accumulations possible on top of the ice. Overnight low 22.
CHICAGO
Precipitation changing to snow Thursday night with a good chance of snow extending through Friday morning.
LITTLE ROCK
Much colder Thursday night with rain changing to sleet and then to snow after midnight. Light accumulations. Dry and colder for the weekend with the lowest near 22 Saturday morning.
MEMPHIS
No snow flurries mentioned in their official NWS forecast, but temperatures dropping into the 20s by the weekend.
NASHVILLE
A mix of light sleet and rain Friday morning.
LOUISVILLE
A slight chance of light snow on Friday.
DALLAS/FT. WORTH
Light rain Thursday morning changing over to light freezing rain in the afternoon. Wind gusts to 35 mph with temperatures only in the 30s. A mix of light freezing rain and light sleet Thursday evening.
CUT BANK, MONTANA (Just for the fun of it.)
Intermittent snow today with the warmest temperature 5 below to 10 below zero. The wind chill will reach 30 to 40 below today. The temperature was 16 below in Cut Bank this morning.
WOLF POINT, MONTANA (Just for the fun of it.)
Heavy snow with accumulations of about 1/2 foot. Wind chill dropping to 35 below by late tonight. Wolf Point is out on the open plains of NE Montana with only barbed wire fences to slow the arctic air. I bet on any night you can hear a wolf howling in the distance.
DUTCH JOHN, UTAH
This town is in the NE corner of Utah in the east edge of the Uinta Mountains. By the way, the Uinta Mountains is the only mountain range in the USA oriented purely east to west. King’s Peak is right in the middle of that mountain range with an elevation of 13,528 feet, making it the highest point in Utah. But let’s get back to Dutch John (another place name that I am fascinated by). They are under a warning for a major winter storm with heavy mountain snow and whiteout conditions into Wednesday. It will also be bitter cold Wednesday and Thursday. Wind gusts today and tonight could reach 50 mph and snow accumulations of 12 to 18 inches from this storm with the heaviest amounts on the western face of the mountains.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
* 12 inches of new snow fell overnight at Alta in the Wasatch Mountains of Northern Utah. They now have 27 inches on the ground. Park City got 9 inches of new snow.
* The temperature fell to 18 below zero this morning at Sweet Grass, Montana with a a wind chill a bitter 44 below zero.
* It was 20 below zero this morning in East Glacier, Montana. That is the coldest temperature I could find in the lower 48.
* Still plenty of bitter cold over NW Canada. One of the coldest temperatures was 47 below near the British Columbia-Yukon border.
* Washington State has been getting enormous amounts of snow lately also. The Pacific Northwest has had an unbelievable bout with heavy precipitation all month.
* The ground is frozen to a depth of more than 8 inches in parts of Montana. I would sure hate to stand out in that cold weather today and try to dig fence posts with post hole diggers. Those things can jar your teeth out.
