Arctic Outbreak To Set Records For Valentine’s Weekend

An arctic cold front packing snow, strong winds and bitter cold temperatures is due to arrive in the Lansing region on Friday.

“It’ll be cool today, colder tomorrow and much colder on the weekend”, Jim Connolly of the National Weather Service, told the New York Times.

Clear conditions will push temperatures to be as low as 10 degrees below zero without wind chill in the metro.

A lobe of the polar vortex will rear its ugly head, drawing Arctic air into the United States this weekend.

Temperatures will reach the mid-teens Friday night and Saturday’s high will only reach 20 near the water and the mid-teens inland.

The most unsafe cold weather will be on Saturday and Sunday.

Snow and ice are also possible in a large swath of the country, from the Midwest and South to the Northeast, early next week.

Dry weather and gradually warming temperatures are expected starting on Wednesday.

There’s a chance one or both of those records could fall this year.

While this cold air outbreak is, in Connecticut NBC TV meteorologist Ryan Hanrahan’s words, “exceptionally impressive”, it may be hard to set a slew of record lows. Temperatures will be dropping during the daytime Saturday with wind gusts of 40 to 50 miles per hour as another round of Arctic air moves into the region. The shorter trajectory from the north means the air is closer to the temperature it was went it started flowing south.

Our area is now under a Slight Risk for a snow storm threat Monday night into Tuesday. That should surpass the previous record of two degrees set back in 1916.

By Saturday night, when most couples will celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, temperatures in the New York City area will hit between minus-5 and 3 degrees Fahrenheit above zero, the NWS stated on Thursday. The wind will create apparent temperatures in the 15 to 30 below zero range, and I suspect wind chill advisories or even warnings may be issued. Frostbite on exposed skin can occur in as little as 10 minutes at those temperatures, according to the National Weather Service.