forBeware of Blair. This is the word From the weather channelwhich, along with National Weather ServiceIt issued a winter storm warning for the first winter storm of 2025. The storm is scheduled to arrive over the weekend and last through Monday, hitting the Plains, Midwest and mid-Atlantic US with snow, ice and freezing temperatures – ensuring that the new year will be challenging for up to To 250 million people in 40 states.
Winter Storm Blair is the result of what is known as… Arctic eruptionwhich itself is a creation of Polar vortex. The polar vortex is a formation of westerly winds that gather over the Arctic in winter, isolating the polar region from the surrounding atmosphere and causing temperatures within the vortex to drop, but are not affected by ambient temperatures. That’s only when the polar vortex remembers where it is, which it won’t do this weekend. Instead, a pair of high-pressure areas forces the jet stream southward, bringing the polar vortex’s icebox air deep into the lower 48 states. At the same time the so-called High blocking– A stationary area of high pressure – over Greenland is also pushing the jet stream, and more cold weather, southward.
The effects of all this weather activity will be felt greatly in the United States. Snow is expected to fall throughout the day Saturday in the northern and central Rockies, along with the Plains, with precipitation likely extending south into the mid-Mississippi Valley. The Weather Channel is warning Kansas City, St. Louis and Wichita, Kansas, of hazardous driving conditions. Lake effect snow in states bordering the Great Lakes will lead to increased precipitation. On Sunday, the storm will extend east into West Virginia and the Appalachian Mountains and south into Oklahoma. Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Louisville will be added to the cities facing dangerous driving. By Monday, snow will likely bury Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Charleston, S.V., and parts of West Virginia. Accumulations across affected areas are expected to reach between six and 12 inches.
Snowfall will taper off and stop at the beginning of the week, but some models suggest the Arctic outbreak will continue into the second half of the month, and that’s when the majority of Americans should feel its effects. However, even as early as January 6, Texas and Oklahoma will see lows in the 20s and 30s; By midweek, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Appalachia could see similar temperatures. Local temperatures next week are expected to reach 23°F in Dallas, 33°F in New Orleans, 21°F in Atlanta, 36°F in Orlando, and 46°F in Miami. The Weather Channel is calling for some parts of the Plains, Middle Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley to reach 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
According to the AccuWeather websiteCold air from the far north will arrive in pulses, with continued blasts that will keep temperatures in much of the country below average. Temperatures in the Midwestern and mid-Atlantic states are expected to be 12°F to 25°F below historical averages for at least parts of the next two weeks. All five Gulf states — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida — could see snow and ice. An area stretching 1,000 miles from western Nebraska to West Virginia could see up to three to six inches of snow, or “enough to shovel or plow,” says Accuweather. The more snow there is, the colder it gets, with the planet’s albedo – or reflectivity – increasing, meaning incoming sunlight bounces off the white Earth into space rather than being absorbed by dark surfaces and further warming.
None of this changes the state of the Earth’s general climate. The planet is still suffering from the meteorological fever known as climate change. But there are a lot of fluctuations within that larger state. The first month of 2025 promises to be a reminder of harsher winter extremes.