Coldest Air of the Season Moving into the Nation This Week...

A strong area of high pressure associated with Arctic air is diving southward now across the Northern Plains.  Temperatures have cooled into the single digits and teens now across the northern Plains and the Great Lakes.  The cold front at 7 AM this morning extended from a low north of Lake Erie, across central Pennsylvania and southwestward through Tennessee into Nebraska.  The temperatures across central and southern Canada this morning range from 20 to 30 degrees below zero.  Wind Chill Advisories and Warnings are in effect for the Dakotas, northern Iowa, eastern Montana, Minnesota and western Wisconsin today through Monday for wind chills as low as 35 to 50 degrees below zero. Lake effect snowfall across the leeward sides of the Great Lakes will continue for most of the upcoming week.  The wind will be strong across the Northeast today and Monday with gusts over 30 to 40 mph at times.  The very persistent and broad upper low across most of Canada continues this week.  A shortwave trough is forecast to generate light snow for parts of the Northeast and the NYC metro area on Monday and Tuesday.  Low pressure is forecast by the GFS to form across the Ohio Valley by Thursday with light snow spreading into parts of the Northeast and NYC metro area on Friday into Saturday.  The long range outlook from the GFS indicates that a storm is forecast to develop over the southern Plains next week by Monday and then track into the Great Lakes on Wednesday.  This storm will produce heavy snow and strong winds from the central Plains to the Great Lakes with thunderstorms across the Mississippi River Valley. 
The AO index is forecast by the GFS to remain strongly negative for the rest of the month with the NAO trending less negative but remaining slightly negative into early February.

George Wright is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist for Wright Weather Consulting, LLC. George is also a meteorologist with ABC News and Cablevision News 12. Our website is WrightWeather.com. Follow George Wright on Twitter.