US weather to go nuts with blizzard, polar vortex, heat dome, atmospheric river all at once

Nearly every part of the United States is getting walloped by wild weather or just about to be, with days of downpours beginning in Hawaii, a Southwest heat wave of 100-degree-plus days imminent, two storms set to dump snow by the foot over northern Great Lakes states, and the polar vortex forecast to invade the Midwest and East with Arctic chill.

“US weather to go nuts with blizzard, polar vortex, heat dome, atmospheric river all at once US weather to go nuts with blizzard, polar vortex, heat dome, atmospheric river all at once Nearly every part of the United States is getting walloped by wild weather or just about to be”

Associated Press

Washington, D.C. hit a record-breaking 86 degrees Fahrenheit (about 30 Celsius) on Wednesday and saw snow on Thursday, illustrating the “weather whiplash.”

Associated Press

Meteorologist Marc Chenard of the Weather Prediction Center in Maryland said, “All of the country, even if you’re not necessarily seeing extremes, are going to see generally changing from cold to warm, or warm to cold to warm.”

A heat dome will form early next week and park over the Southwest, baking temperatures to triple digits earlier than usual, meteorologists said.

Former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist Ryan Maue and Marc Chenard warned that forecasts show Phoenix could reach 98 (almost 37 Celsius) on Tuesday, then 103, 105 and two days of 107 (almost 42 C).

Associated Press

The weather service noted that in 137 years of record-keeping Phoenix never hit 100 before March 26 and usually hits its first 100-degree day in early May, and it warned that people are not acclimated to this level of heat so it “will be more impactful than usual.”

Los Angeles has already seen unusual 90-degree March weather, and resident Shane Dixon described running in the heat as unusually hard: “The back of my neck was melting,” and he added that he preferred it to the cold and snow that will hit elsewhere, saying, “I could go literally soak myself and walk out in the sun and I’ll make it home fine. If it was freezing cold I could not do this.”

At the same time the polar vortex is forecast to send frigid air into the Midwest and East, with Minneapolis near zero for a low and Chicago in the single digits on Tuesday, followed by temperatures in the teens and 20s in the Northeast and 20s in the Mid-Atlantic, and even Atlanta could drop to the 20s, Maue said.

“US weather to go nuts with blizzard, polar vortex, heat dome, atmospheric river all at once US weather to go nuts with blizzard, polar vortex, heat dome, atmospheric river all at once Nearly every part of the United States is getting walloped by wild weather or just about to be”

Associated Press

Two storm systems — one Friday and another Sunday into Monday — will track along the northern tier and Great Lakes and between them could dump 3 to 4 feet of snow in places, and the second storm will intensify so quickly that it will qualify as a bomb cyclone despite developing over land because it will draw power from the polar vortex.

Maue and Chenard said the underlying cause is a jet stream behaving wildly, with near-vertical plunges and ascents that put extremes next to each other, and they noted that numerous studies have connected unusual jet stream and polar vortex activity to shrinking Arctic sea ice and human-caused climate change.

Other impacts will include a persistent atmospheric river bringing heavy rain and major flooding risk to Hawaii, where Oahu is under a flash flood warning, and Alaska running about 30 degrees colder than usual, Maue said.

Tornadoes killed at least eight people in Oklahoma, Michigan and Indiana in the past week, and while the forecast for severe storms doesn’t look as big or widespread for the next week, Chenard said dangerous thunderstorms could pop up “anywhere from the Mississippi Valley toward the East Coast” on Sunday or Monday.

Associated Press

Maue offered a note of relief, saying, “The first day of spring is 20th (of March), and then after that we get recovery.”

Associated Press writer Dorany Pineda contributed from Los Angeles, and the article notes that the Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations while AP is solely responsible for all content.