Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

If you’ve been channeling Bing Crosby and dreaming of a White Christmas, you may just get your wish. As of yesterday morning, around 215 million Americans across 37 states were under winter weather warnings or advisories due to a major storm system, which is forecast to hit every US region except the Southwest.

🥶 What to expect: The coming cold front is forecast to drop 5 to 9 inches of snow across the Midwest and Plains regions over the next few days, potentially impacting travel.

More than 80% of the contiguous 48 US states will experience sub-freezing temperatures this week, with thermometers dropping… rather quickly as the cold front rolls in. Some notable examples:

• The temperature in Dillon, Montana, fell by 26°F in just three minutes when the cold front passed through early Wednesday, per the National Weather Service.
• The NWS is also projecting Denver will go from a high of 47°F yesterday to a low of -14°F this morning, which would mark the city’s coldest day since 1990.

👀 Looking ahead… The storm system is expected to turn into a “bomb cyclone” late today/early tomorrow after undergoing a process called bombogenesis, which is when a storm rapidly intensifies and drops 24 millibars (a term that measures atmospheric pressure) in 24 hours.

This coming bomb cyclone is forecast to reach the pressure equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane as it hits the Great Lakes, with the NWS describing it as a “once-in-a-generation” event.