If the month of December was marked by many heat records in the United States, these first days of January mark the transition to extreme winter conditions: in Texas, the weather services noted a temperature difference of 40 ° C in in just two days!
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The United States is currently facing the first real winter offensive since the start of the season: a snow storm sweeps the country from west to east, before a second similar storm expected between Wednesday and Friday. But, despite heavy accumulations of snow and a generalized mess in transport, it is ultimately the vertiginous drop in temperatures that is the most striking.
From scorching summer to freezing winter in just two days
the the climate for the month of december 2021 in North America was historic : In many states, temperatures were more than 20 degrees above seasonal averages. In early December, it was 25 ° C in Montana, a usually freezing northwestern state, and over 30 ° C in California and Texas. This situation weather report exceptional event, which encouraged the development of fires in the middle of winter, continued in early January. L’Colorado State suffered a major disaster, with the most destructive fires that the state has known (more than 1,000 homes destroyed) on December 30. The average temperature was then around ten degrees in the Denver area on the day of the fires, before dropping to -18 ° C two days later when a storm passed, covering the ash buildings with 20 centimeters of snow. .
Even more impressive, the contrast Spectacular Texas Thermal: The southern state of the United States has gone from an August-like furnace to freezing northern state-like weather. 30 to 35 ° C on average over South Texas on the 1ster January afternoon (compared to an average of 21 ° C at that time) at negative temperatures (from -1 to -11 ° C) on the morning of January 3! That is to say a difference of 40 degrees over the same area in the space of two days. In the northwest of the country, temperatures dropped to extremely low levels, without breaking any records, to -40 ° C in Montana on January 3. The Jet Stream ripples, too north to let the cold descend during the month of December, finally plunged south, allowing a air mass arctic over the country. This classic winter setup arrived much later than usual and marks a radical change from the much more unusual one last December.
Two snowstorms in one week
The first real snowstorm of winter ends its crossing of the United States from west to east this Wednesday, after depriving of power 850,000 homes, causing approximately 600 pilings on the roads and leading to the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights. With 35 centimeters of snow, the capital Washington was completely paralyzed between Sunday and Monday. While the cold air mass resists over the northern half of the country, a second snowstorm sweeps the country from this Wednesday and until Friday. With a trajectory further south, on less prepared states, the consequences will again be significant on transport.
Snowstorm hits Mid-Atlantic, Fredericksburg, Virginia (United States). © Bryce Shelton, PalmettoChasers, YouTube
According to the latest seasonal forecast from Weather Underground, the weather extremes should be still very marked during the month of January in the United States: the north of the country (Washington, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota) should remain in a cold clearly below the seasonal averages, while that the south (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida) should reconnect with a heat unusual.
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