By Ian Livingston | Special To The Washington Post
After much anticipation, some of the most frigid air this winter – and this late in the year on record – descended on the Lower 48 United States this weekend. Cold even by January standards, it is here to stay for several more days.
Widespread temperatures in the minus-20s to minus-30s or colder invaded the northern tier on Sunday morning, sending wind chills below minus-50 in spots. Including Monday, below zero readings have been recorded as far south as the southern portion of the Central Plains and into the lower Midwest and Great Lakes region.
Sunday also featured a coldest low of minus-44 degrees in Montana and a warmest high of 88 in Florida. That made for a remarkable 132 degree temperature difference across the Lower 48.
When this freakish cold spell is done, several hundred new record low maximum and record low temperatures will have fallen. In the last seven days alone, cold records are outpacing warm by about four to one across the nation.
Deep chill pushed south of the Canadian border early in the weekend. Widespread temperatures in the minus-30s to minus-40s blanketed Montana by Sunday morning.
The National Weather Service office in Great Falls reported that Lewiston, in central Montana, set an all-time record for March and this late in the winter with a low of minus-34 degrees, toppling the previous mark of minus-28 on multiple dates. Great Falls had low of minus-32 degrees which was a tie for the coldest temperature in March there, last done on the 10th in 1932.
If those absurdly frigid temperatures were not enough, wind chills were pushed even lower. A truly bonkers wind chill of minus-57 was recorded in north-central parts of the state at Havre.
815am: Here's a preliminary list of our coldest temperatures this morning across North-central and Southwest Montana: pic.twitter.com/8f7LP8Ci84
— NWS Great Falls (@NWSGreatFalls) March 3, 2019
Other record lows occurred across the Northern and Central Plains into the Upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest. Wind chills between minus-40 and minus-50 were common across the northern tier as well. Dangerous weather — no hyperbole needed.
As a small sample of the many records on Sunday to the east of Montana, new daily lows were set in places lik Sioux Falls, South Dakota. with minus-17 and Minnesota’s Twin Cities at minus-13. Record cold high temperatures were posted in spots like the icebox of the U.S. at International Falls, Minnesota, with minus-2; Duluth, Minnesota, where the high was 1 degree, and Marquette, Michigan, where it got to a comparatively balmy 5 degrees.
In Denver, Sunday’s low of minus-6 was the coldest in March since 1960. Its high of 6 degrees also broke a record, and the average of zero made it the coldest day of this winter. Record lows were also set in the Pacific Northwest, including several locations in Oregon.
The bone-chilling story continues Monday. Much like Sunday, the records are numerous.
North Platte, Nebraska shattered daily low AND the monthly March record low temp at -25 deg this am! That's without the wind chill!! Daily record lows in Wisconsin this am and probably record cold highs in Texas and Arkansas later today. Cold again tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/IEdmBiLfbb
— Jen Carfagno (@JenCarfagno) March 4, 2019
Record lows were recorded from the Pacific Northwest to the Great Lakes in the north and from the Continental Divide to the Mississippi River and Texas on the southern end.
A hard-to-fathom minus-46 was recorded in Elk Park, Montana According to the Weather Service, this is likely a new all-time record for March and so late in the year, for the entire state. It’s also very close to the coldest ever recorded in the Lower 48 in March, which was minus-50 in 1906 in Snake River, Wyo.
North Platte, Nebraska fell to minus-25 degrees Monday morning. This daily and March record was likely assisted by a fresh snow pack. The city recorded a record daily snowfall of six inches on Sunday.
Livingston, Montana, reached minus-32 degrees Monday morning, which demolished the old daily record of minus-11. In Kansas, record lows were minus-7 in Hill City and minus-1 in Dodge City as well as Garden City.
Chicago has a low temp of -3 degrees so far today. It is the first time O'Hare fell to -3 or colder in March since 2002 and before that was 1978. These are the only three other times in which O'Hare was -3 or colder in March. O'Hare March data goes back to 1959. #ILwx pic.twitter.com/LCZ1geMfVy
— Peter Mullinax (@wxmvpete) March 4, 2019
A slew of new records is also expected Monday afternoon and night before this Arctic blast begins to relent. The Great Lakes is taking the brunt Monay. Widespread high temperatures in the single digits and teens are targeting a number of long-period stations.
In Chicago, a city lovingly called “Chiberia” – a play on Siberia in the Arctic – a high around 10 degrees is expected to set a new record cold maximum. According to meteorologist Peter Mullinax, the city’s O’Hare Airport has only recorded temperatures as cold as the minus-3 Monday morning on three other times this late in the season. It’s also one of the ten coldest temperatures in March all-time for the city. Wind chills were in the minus-20s Monday morning.
Other locations across Wisconsin and Iowa into Minnesota are expected to only make the single digits for highs Monday. In Michigan, most spots are looking at record low maximums as well.
Although Monday marks the maximum extent of this Arctic blast across the Lower 48, most of the nation will awake to unusually cold March weather on Tuesday. At least a handful of additional records are possible, especially in the South and East as the coldest air relative to normal moves into those regions Tuesday.
For Tuesday, the Northeast mostly sees 20s for highs with teens nearer the international border. Cold air also remains anchored over much of the Plains, with highs still running about 25 degrees below normal there.
While this outbreak is waning through the week, much of the central U.S. in particular may continue to stay colder than normal into the near future. No major warm ups are on the horizon just yet.
