Baby, It's Cold Outside

Baby, It's Cold Outside
Cold Snap Grips the United States

Arctic air gripped the northern Plains and Great Lakes yesterday under a large dome of high pressure with afternoon temperatures failing to rise above zero over parts of the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. As the arctic air poured eastward over the warmer Great Lakes, bands of lake-effect snow continued to form and accumulate downwind from the lakes. With winds favorable, these bands remained nearly stationary, and as much as 2 feet of snow fell. The snow is not expected to let up anytime soon from lakes Erie and Ontario, and locations under these bands of snow will end up with several feet by the time the snow ends later this week. Across the Tennessee Valley, a band of snow dusted the ground early Sunday, dissipating as it crossed the spine of the Appalachian Mountains. Although it was cold, plenty of sunshine was still found across eastern New England and eastern mid-Atlantic states, while clouds mixed in with the sun farther southward into the Southeast. A frontal boundary was draped near South Florida, leading to showers dropping more than an inch of rain in spots. Nearly an inch of ran fell in Miami, Fla., throughout the day leading to a soggy football game in the evening. The southern Plains for the most part was dry with a mix of clouds and sunshine with temperatures across Texas and Oklahoma in the afternoon climbing to near normal. To the west, a storm system continued to brush the Pacific Northwest with a little rain falling in Washington. Pleasant in the Southwest, with temperatures warming into the 80s around the Los Angeles area.