America is freezing
The storm that is coming to Quebec has already begun to have major impacts on our neighbors to the south. First the cold sweeps almost the whole country. For example, in Denver, the mercury dropped almost 35 degrees in less than 48 hours. Yes, we are talking about 35 degrees Celsius. In Dallas, Texas, the temperature is expected to be around -12 degrees overnight Thursday through Friday. Residents of South Dakota could experience a feeling of -45. The cold will not even spare Florida, where the mercury will drop below freezing for a few nights. It is even feared that several iguanas are paralyzed by the cold, and begin to fall from the trees.
A weather bomb that makes its own way
The system will intensify rapidly, such that it can be called a weather bomb. To do this, it will lose more than 24 hPa in less than 24 h. Note that in general, the lower the central pressure of a system, the more powerful it is. Weather bombs are regularly observed in the fall and winter, but they tend to develop along the eastern seaboard of the United States. This time the trajectory is somewhat unusual. It will develop on the Great Lakes and then go up towards Quebec.
Snow storm in the south
This weather bomb will cause blizzards, among other things, in certain cities that are not used to this event, and therefore do not have the equipment to deal with heavy snowfalls. In Oklahoma City for example, the average temperature for this time of year is 10 degrees. The feeling will be -24 for the next few nights, with good gusts and heavy snowfall. The governor has also declared a state of emergency, and implores citizens to stay at home. Winter storm warnings have been issued for Kansas City and St. Louis, a very rare event for these two cities. States around the Great Lakes are expecting up to 150cm of snowfall.
A very bad time
All this just two days before Christmas. Between December 23 and January 2, more than 110 million Americans travel 80 km or more. Already on Thursday morning, air carriers had announced the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights. All flights were stopped altogether for several hours at the Minneapolis airport on Wednesday. This has had a domino effect on almost all airports in the country.
With the collaboration of Kevin Cloutier, meteorologist