Just as millions of travelers prepare to head home after Thanksgiving, bitter Arctic air will soon blast half the US while parts of the Great Lakes area will be buried under feet of snow. Temperatures will plummet 15 to 25 degrees across much of the eastern US over the next few days, from Minnesota all the way down to Texas. “At the peak of the Arctic outbreak, minimum wind chills should fall below zero for much of the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest,” the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said.
“Wind chills across much of the Dakotas and Minnesota will be below -15 degrees with some portions of North Dakota as cold as -30 to -40 degrees. This poses an increased risk of hypothermia and frostbite on exposed skin. Have a winter survival kit if you must travel.
” For many, this wintry blast will bring the coldest temperatures since mid-February. About 70% of the country will see temperatures below freezing for the next few days. And temperatures over the Central and Eastern US will be 10 to 25 degrees below normal through the weekend.
Freeze watches are in effect for about 15 million people in states from Texas to South Carolina, with freezing temperatures expected Saturday morning. Cold winds over the near-record warm Great Lakes also will usher in the first significant lake-effect snow event of the season. “There will be localized areas that will be paralyzed from the lake snow with some interstates also being greatly impacted,” the Buffalo Na.