America is in the middle of living out a Katy Perry song

Nearly 1,500 flights were canceled yesterday, and 3,300+ more delayed, in the face of a coast-to-coast winter storm.

The National Weather Service (NWS) describes the storm as "significant" – which is probably a good word to use, considering it’s expected to affect every region of the Lower 48 states with winter weather, severe thunderstorms, or extreme temperatures over the next few days. Some examples:

• An ice storm is making its way from Iowa into New England, hitting cities like Detroit and Buffalo along the way.
• St. Paul and Minneapolis are forecast to see one of their top 10 biggest snowstorms on record, with ~20 inches expected. That’s about the same amount of snow that caused the roof of the Metrodome to collapse in December 2010.
• The NWS forecast office for Los Angeles issued its first blizzard warning since 1989; it applies to the higher elevation areas of Ventura, LA, and Santa Barbara counties (>1,500 feet above sea level).

And while folks to the north are jumping into an involuntary ice bath, folks in the south may as well be taking an involuntary trip to the sauna. Heat records are projected to fall along the Gulf Coast up into the Mid-Atlantic over the next few days; meteorologists say up to 128 records could be broken in the Central Florida region alone.

🥶🥵 The dichotomy: A 100-degree temperature spread is expected today between North Dakota (-10°F) and Florida (90°F).

P.S. If this story put the song “Hot N Cold” in your head, you’re not alone. Feed your craving here.