Not sure about you, but I like my vortices polar, still reeking of Siberia. This is why Minnesota will never have a population of 10 million, by the way. Cold fronts like this keep the population density low.
Should you decide to sneak outside today, your goal should be to make it difficult for friends and family to identify you. Michelin Man-level layers of clothing. A warm, woolen hat, maybe a stylish face mask? (I know — oxymoron.) Snowmobile-grade gloves. Big-boy boots. No exposed skin.
With today’s conditions, frostbite can occur on exposed skin in less than 10 minutes. I see a windchill factor of 25 below to 40 below today as winds slowly ease a bit by afternoon.
The mercury probably won’t rise above zero until Sunday afternoon, with a few days in the teens next week. Long-range models suggest a thaw the first week of February.
Meanwhile, a potentially historic ice storm is setting up from Dallas and Nashville to Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
Arctic air is shoving the storm track way south. Yes, it can always be worse.
