Weather
Snow to accompany cold wave Heartland pattern
An impressive cold outbreak will continue nearly nationwide into next week, although Florida’s peninsula, the Desert Southwest, and much of California will escape below-normal temperatures.
Following a weekend storm system across the central and southern Plains, temperatures could plunge to 0° or below as far south as central Texas.
However, snow in advance of the coldest weather should help to insulate the central and southern Plains’ winter wheat crop. Farther north, some wheat fields in northeastern Montana and the western Dakotas are devoid of snow cover amid a protracted spell of sub-zero temperatures, increasing the risk of winterkill.
As eastbound storm systems continue to traverse the boundary between lingering warmth across the Deep South and frigid air farther north, widespread wintry weather (snow, sleet, and freezing rain) will affect the West, central and southern Plains, mid-South, lower Midwest, and Northeast.
Elsewhere, 5-day rainfall totals could reach 2 to 4 inches or more in the Southeast, excluding southern Florida.
Looking ahead, the 6- to 10-day outlook calls for the likelihood of colder-than-normal conditions nationwide, except for above-normal temperatures in southern Florida and near-normal temperatures in northern Maine and parts of California.
Meanwhile, wetter-than-normal weather in the East and Northwest should contrast with below-normal precipitation across large sections of the Plains, Southwest, and upper Midwest.
