Millions of Americans were under freeze warnings on Saturday morning as an Arctic blast swept across the Great Lakes, Midwest, and northern Plains.
Approximately 9 million people in the South are under freeze warnings on Saturday, while 16 million people are under winter alerts throughout the Great Lakes and the Central Plains to the Appalachians.
The lowest temperatures since last winter are being delivered by the Arctic airmass, the National Weather Service warned. On Saturday morning, wind chills are predicted to drop below zero throughout the upper Midwest and northern Plains. The EPA warned that wind chills might drop as low as minus 30 to 40 degrees in some areas of North Dakota.
According to the National Weather Service, the greatest snow accumulations are anticipated east of Lake Ontario, where isolated locations around the Watertown, New York, area may receive up to 60 inches of snow by the beginning of next week.
Isolated power outages, blowing and drifting snow, and near-whiteout conditions will significantly impair visibility due to wind gusts.
New Yorkers were cautioned by Governor Kathy Hochul on Saturday to refrain from needless travel.
Hochul proclaimed a state of emergency for a number of counties, including Oswego and Erie, one day prior. There will occasionally be blinding snowfall rates of 3 to 4 inches per hour, along with the possibility of thundersnow, an uncommon meteorological phenomenon that mixes a snowstorm with lightning and thunder, making travel dangerous.
The National Weather Service reported that by Friday evening, portions of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York had already received over 20 inches of snow near the coasts of Lake Erie.
According to the agency, Erie, Pennsylvania, recorded 30 inches, the most so far.
Post-Thanksgiving travel plans have been hampered by road interruptions, particularly along Interstate 90 between Cleveland and Buffalo.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz of New York announced at a press conference that the interstate was stopped in Pennsylvania late Friday afternoon between interstate 79 and the New York state line. North of Syracuse, New York, Interstate 81 is another route that can be impacted.
Travel “could be very difficult to impossible” in areas downwind of the Great Lakes, according to a Friday National Weather Service report.
North of Syracuse, New York, Interstate 81 is another route that can be impacted. Because Highmark Stadium is located in Orchard Park, a town that is expected to receive between 12 and 18 inches of snow, with higher amounts likely, the Sunday Night Football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Buffalo Bills may be buried beneath snow.
The Buffalo Bills invited their ardent supporters, known as the Bills Mafia, to sign up to shovel snow at the stadium on X on Friday.
During the media conference, Poloncarz stated that the bulk of the snowfall is expected to fall on Saturday and Sunday, with central and southern Erie County likely to be the most severely affected. According to Poloncarz, the southern part of the county may receive more than three feet of snow, while the middle parts may receive two to three feet.
In the meantime, inhabitants of the South, which stretches from Texas to the Carolinas, awoke to warnings and freeze watches on Friday.
Early next week, a strong lake-effect snowstorm that is covering regions downwind of the Great Lakes is predicted to subside. However, meteorologists cautioned that an Arctic air mass was overflowing south out of Canada and that colder air was still on its way south.
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