Thousands and thousands of Americans are under critical weather alerts as a significant winter storm is ready to bring “life-threatening” cold temperatures and powerful winds to large swaths of the nation — with the mercury expected to drop as little as minus 20 degrees across the Midwest and Great Lakes.
Greater than 80 million Americans — spanning from coast to coast — are under various types of wind chill alerts, in response to FOX Weather meteorologist Christopher Tate.
“We could see wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph,” he told The Post on Wednesday. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an occasional gust of 60 along the coast.”
The extreme Arctic blast will bring “life-threatening wind chills” to much of the country, the National Weather Service also warned Wednesday.
“Cold of this magnitude may lead to frostbite on exposed skin inside minutes, in addition to hypothermia and death if exposure is prolonged,” the agency said, noting that wind chill alerts currently stretch from the US-Canadian border to the Texas Gulf Coast, including portions of a minimum of 26 states.
Tate said temperatures could plummet to minus 20 degrees across the Midwest and Great Lakes.
“Some places are expected to drop as little as minus 20 degrees. And that’s not taking into consideration the wind that’s going to make it feel minus 60,” the meteorologist said.
The potential “bomb cyclone” can be a once-in-a-generation weather event, officials have said.
A bomb cyclone is a term utilized by meteorologists to explain a rapidly strengthening storm — typically when a storm system’s central pressure drops a minimum of 24 millibars inside 24 hours, Fox Weather explained.
The blizzard will even produce disruptive conditions within the Northeast, where rain and powerful winds may cause power outages and icy, unsafe roads, meteorologists warned.
Along with strong and damaging winds making it seem much more frigid, Latest York City and the encircling suburbs should expect to see rain over the upcoming weekend.
Any precipitation that falls ahead of what surely can be a busy weekend for holiday travel is vulnerable to rapidly freezing and causing slick and dangerous road conditions.
“If this had gone slightly bit in another way we’d have had snow and a white Christmas, however it’ll be slightly too warm here,” Tate said.
By Wednesday morning, the winter storm was dropping snow across parts of the northern Rockies and northern Plains.
Between 2 and 5 inches of snow was reported within the Seattle metro area Tuesday, and as much as a foot was measured just north of Seattle.
The powerful Arctic front is moving south and east and is anticipated to move toward the northern and central Plains and the Upper Midwest on Wednesday, where conditions will rapidly deteriorate throughout the day, producing dangerous snow squalls, possible whiteouts and blizzard conditions.
While the Midwest is anticipated to bear the brunt of the storm, major airline delays and flight cancellations will likely be a standard theme across major travel hubs and US airports ahead of and throughout the vacation weekend.
Ahead of the troublesome forecast, several airlines have began offering waivers because the storm is anticipated to strike Chicago — a key air travel hub — with great force.
United, JetBlue, American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, and Alaska Airlines have already said they’re offering waivers for a lot of specific flight paths and dates.
Thousands and thousands of Americans are under critical weather alerts as a significant winter storm is ready to bring “life-threatening” cold temperatures and powerful winds to large swaths of the nation — with the mercury expected to drop as little as minus 20 degrees across the Midwest and Great Lakes.
Greater than 80 million Americans — spanning from coast to coast — are under various types of wind chill alerts, in response to FOX Weather meteorologist Christopher Tate.
“We could see wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph,” he told The Post on Wednesday. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an occasional gust of 60 along the coast.”
The extreme Arctic blast will bring “life-threatening wind chills” to much of the country, the National Weather Service also warned Wednesday.
“Cold of this magnitude may lead to frostbite on exposed skin inside minutes, in addition to hypothermia and death if exposure is prolonged,” the agency said, noting that wind chill alerts currently stretch from the US-Canadian border to the Texas Gulf Coast, including portions of a minimum of 26 states.
Tate said temperatures could plummet to minus 20 degrees across the Midwest and Great Lakes.
“Some places are expected to drop as little as minus 20 degrees. And that’s not taking into consideration the wind that’s going to make it feel minus 60,” the meteorologist said.
The potential “bomb cyclone” can be a once-in-a-generation weather event, officials have said.
A bomb cyclone is a term utilized by meteorologists to explain a rapidly strengthening storm — typically when a storm system’s central pressure drops a minimum of 24 millibars inside 24 hours, Fox Weather explained.
The blizzard will even produce disruptive conditions within the Northeast, where rain and powerful winds may cause power outages and icy, unsafe roads, meteorologists warned.
Along with strong and damaging winds making it seem much more frigid, Latest York City and the encircling suburbs should expect to see rain over the upcoming weekend.
Any precipitation that falls ahead of what surely can be a busy weekend for holiday travel is vulnerable to rapidly freezing and causing slick and dangerous road conditions.
“If this had gone slightly bit in another way we’d have had snow and a white Christmas, however it’ll be slightly too warm here,” Tate said.
By Wednesday morning, the winter storm was dropping snow across parts of the northern Rockies and northern Plains.
Between 2 and 5 inches of snow was reported within the Seattle metro area Tuesday, and as much as a foot was measured just north of Seattle.
The powerful Arctic front is moving south and east and is anticipated to move toward the northern and central Plains and the Upper Midwest on Wednesday, where conditions will rapidly deteriorate throughout the day, producing dangerous snow squalls, possible whiteouts and blizzard conditions.
While the Midwest is anticipated to bear the brunt of the storm, major airline delays and flight cancellations will likely be a standard theme across major travel hubs and US airports ahead of and throughout the vacation weekend.
Ahead of the troublesome forecast, several airlines have began offering waivers because the storm is anticipated to strike Chicago — a key air travel hub — with great force.
United, JetBlue, American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, and Alaska Airlines have already said they’re offering waivers for a lot of specific flight paths and dates.
