The latest polar plunge, triggered by a dip in the jet stream, was deeper than initially forecast, allowing frigid air to reach the Gulf Coast. At the same time, this advance was rapid and broad, shoving the southern storm eastward rather than northeastward.
Sitting over Mississippi this morning, the powerful storm is raking the Southeast with heavy rains and its "wrap-around" moisture, forced to rise above the entrenched cold, is producing light snow across east Texas and much of Louisiana. The east edge of the polar trough now stretches along the Appalachians and, as the storm moves up the Atlantic Coast, inland snows and coastal rains will be separated by a swath of ice.
Once again, the exact location and extent of the ice storm is difficult to predict but current forecasts suggest crippling conditions will develop from northern Virginia to southern New England. Meteorology is certainly one of the most interesting and frustrating fields of natural science!
