A powerful early-season winter storm is sweeping across the northern United States this week, bringing heavy snow, blizzard conditions and a blast of Arctic air that’s expected to drop temperatures for millions of Americans heading into the Thanksgiving holiday.
The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center says a deep, low-pressure system spinning over the Great Lakes is producing blizzard conditions along the south shore of Lake Superior Wednesday, with strong winds blowing and drifting snow and potentially creating whiteout conditions. Winter storm and blizzard warnings stretch across parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, where some areas are expected to see more than half a foot of snow by Thursday, per Newsweek.
In Minnesota, according to MPR News, the first major snowstorm of the season has already made for treacherous roads and widespread school delays or cancellations, as heavy snow and howling winds move through the state and temperatures tumble.
Big temperature drop on the way
Behind the storm, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says an Arctic air mass will spill south and east, pushing wind chills well below freezing and dropping temperatures 5–15 degrees below average across the northern Plains, Upper Midwest and Great Lakes, then into the Ohio Valley and East by late week.
By Friday, more than 200 million people could be running below their typical late-November temperatures, according to Fox Weather. Some locations from the Midwest to the Tennessee Valley and mid-Atlantic are forecast to see highs only in the 20s and 30s, with overnight lows dipping into the teens.
Meteorologists are also watching the atmosphere higher above the pole. A rare “sudden stratospheric warming” event is expected to disrupt the polar vortex and could set the stage for a colder, snowier pattern across much of the U.S. into December, per The Washington Post.
Holiday travel headaches
The timing isn’t ideal: AAA expects roughly 82 million Americans to travel at least 50 miles from home for Thanksgiving week, with a record number of air travelers. By Wednesday morning, according to data from FlightAware’s Misery Map, more than 2,000 flights in, out of and within the U.S. had already been delayed and dozens canceled, with Midwest hubs among the hardest hit as snow and strong winds move through.
Flight-tracking site FlightAware’s “Misery Map” gives travelers a live look at which major airports are seeing clusters of delays and cancellations, updating in real time as the storm shifts east and south.
On the roads, state officials in the northern Plains and Upper Midwest are warning of slick highways, sudden drops in visibility and rapidly worsening conditions as temperatures fall below freezing behind the front. Drivers are being urged to slow down, carry winter emergency kits and check local forecasts before heading out, according to Newsweek.
What it means for Utah and the West
For Utahns, Thanksgiving Day itself looks relatively calm compared with the stormy Midwest. Around Salt Lake City, KSL forecasters expect mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies, with highs in the low to mid-50s on Thursday before cooler air settles in over the weekend, dropping highs into the 40s and bringing a chance of flurries by Sunday.
But a separate storm is poised to develop over the Rockies and High Plains later this week, bringing accumulating snow and much colder temperatures to Wyoming and parts of the Intermountain West by Saturday and Sunday. That system could brush northern Utah with colder air and light snow, as the heaviest impacts stay to the north and east.