Looking At Friday Morning Snow

Today was THE COLDEST DAY IN THE HISTORY OF WEATHER. Ok, that's what people thought today when they walked outside and the wind chill was frequently dropping below -30°. Schools and colleges everywhere were closed, lots of parents stayed home with their kids, so the city was a ghost town today.

Tomorrow morning will be cold too, but no where near as bad as today. We'll see wind chills in the negative teens, and many schools are closed again. As the high pressure builds in from the west, winds will subside to 5-10mph, but temps will bottom out lower than they did today. I'd say widespread -5 to -10°. But the cold isn't even the biggest story tomorrow.

It's what kicks in tomorrow night that'll steal the headlines and really add insult to injury:

A potent clipper will push the high pressure out of our area, bringing a decent area of snow to the region Thursday night. Snow will last all the way in to rush hour Friday morning. Temps will still be low, in the teens, meaning snow will stick immediately. I think we're going to have a pretty rough morning commute Friday.

Snowfall amounts are a little high for a clipper system, pushing up to 4" in quite a few places. Here's what I'm thinking for Friday morning:

This will be a high impact event based on the fact we just had our coldest stretch of winter, and the timing. These overnight in to rush hour events always seem to cause a huge problem.

From two straight days of frigid cold to a moderate snow event, this will wrap one of the busiest stretches of winter.