Arctic Air Progress Report

At 10 this morning the leading edge of the very cold air had reached NW Mississippi, North Louisiana and deep into Texas. Consider these big contrasts at this hour and some overnight changes:

37 at 10 am in Utica, Miss., just south of Memphis
65 in Jackson
66 in Vicksburg

16 at 10 am Harrison in North Arkansas
40 El Dorado on U.S. 82 in Extreme South Arkansas

79 Sunday afternoon high at Dallas-Fort Worth
30 now with a wind chill of 18

81 Sunday afternoon at Wichita Falls, North Texas
22 now with a wind chill of 6 above

72 Sunday afternoon, Oklahoma City
16 now with a wind chill of zero, zippo, none, nothing

FLAGSTAFF
15 to 25 inches of new snow in the next 36 hours for that alpine city in North Arizona and even more beyond that. Winds up to 30 next 24 hours, lots of drifting.

MEMPHIS
Ice Storm Warning this afternoon through tomorrow morning. Freezing rain with ice accumulation of 1/4 inch. (NOTE: 1/4 inch freezing rain accumulation does not sound like much but it can play havoc.

BY THE NUMBERS
* 56 below zero was the wind chill at mid-morning at Medicine Hat, Alberta. I like that place name. That weather station has been around a long time and I used to see it plotted on weather maps when I was a teenager.

* 52 below was the wind chill this morning at Dickinson, North Dakota and Havre, Montana. Havre had a temperature of -33, coldest reported so far in the 48 states that touch each other.

* 23 below was the coldest in Alaska, some of the very coldest air has pushed southward.

This is the coldest air outbreak in a number of years for a big chunk of the North and Central USA. Call it GC (Global Cooling) or whatever you wish.

BIRMINGHAM AND CENTRAL ALABAMA
Mostly occasional showers and relative mild temperatures this week. Conditions not friendly now for a big invasion of cold. BUT, we will watch it.

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