The first major winter storm of the season, which blasted the western and northern Plains with record snowfall, is dragging the first legitimately Arctic air mass of the season across much of the country.
By early next week, the entire contiguous United States should be in the throes of below normal temperatures. This is an unusual occurrence in an era so often dominated by warmer-than-normal temperatures because of human-caused climate change.
And the cold air will be reinforced as next week wears on. An atypically intense high-pressure zone over Alaska and southeast Canada is set to dislodge much of the available cold from the northern latitudes into the Lower 48.
A Bismarck blizzard
It's not uncommon for snow in the northern Plains during November, but the amount that fell with this storm, which is ushering in the nationwide blast of frigid air, was extraordinary.
Seventeen inches accumulated in Bismarck Thursday, the city's second snowiest day on record and just 0.3 inches from the top spot. Weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Erdman tweeted that more than twice as much snow fell from that single storm than Bismarck sees in an average November: 8 inches.
Several reports of around 2 feet of snow came in from central North Dakota, not far from Bismarck. These include 24 inches near Mandan, 22 inches in Steele and 19 inches near Lincoln. Winds gusted as high as 40 to 50 mph to create drifts of 3 to 5 feet in spots.
A long swath of at least 8 to 12 inches stretched from near Yellowstone National Park, through much of eastern Montana, North Dakota and into northern Minnesota. At least several inches fell as far south as central Wyoming and southwest South Dakota.