The latest winter storm in the US named Quantum is being forecast to bring multiple rounds of wintry precipitation from the Rockies to parts of the South this week. A snow, sleet and freezing rain mix already spread from the Southern Plains Monday into the South affecting Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. This wintry mix will then make its way further east and south Tuesday to affect people living in northern Georgia, eastern Tennessee and the Carolinas.
Quantum will dump the heaviest snow in the Rockies where up to one foot will come down. People living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area may see two inches of sleet fall as the system moves through Monday night. For those living in central Texas up to northern/central Louisiana and central Mississippi, some light freezing rain accumulations can be expected to make travel hazardous. The National Weather Service said Monday that there is a “serious threat” for ice for the South this week.
For those people in the US who are waiting for warmer weather, the news is not so good as the arctic cold weather is expected to linger in the Midwest and Northeast. In fact, Tuesday could be the coldest morning of this winter or close to it for some cities in the Northeast. The latest round of frigid air moved into the Midwest and Plains on Sunday where wind chills were around -40 for parts of North Dakota and northern Minnesota. Sub-zero temperatures also prevailed in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan Monday morning. The country’s low Monday was recorded in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula at Clarksburgh where it was a very frigid -36 while the Twin Cities in Minnesota saw its lowest temperatures so far this winter at -11. Daily record lows Monday morning included many Midwest cities such as Cleveland, OH (-5), Flint, MI (-17), Fort Wayne, IN (-6) and Grand Rapids, MI (-10).
Tuesday morning lows in the Northeast will threaten many records there as bitterly cold temperatures move eastward. For example, thus far this winter Boston has had -3 for its coldest morning but if forecasters are correct, that record low will be broken by this latest wave of arctic air. The highs Tuesday from the South all the way into the Northeast will be 10 to 25 degrees below average with highs mostly in the teens and 20s. As if that is not bad enough, forecasters say that the cold weather pattern will hang on from the Rockies eastward through late this week. Temperatures will be anywhere from 10 to 35 degrees below average in all areas east of the Rockies once again except for the Florida Peninsula.