Topline
Winter Storm Elliott brought record low temperatures to the Midwest, East Coast and parts of the South on Friday and Saturday, as the once-in-a-generation front batters the country with sub-freezing cold, snow and near-zero visibility, and threatens to break Christmas Eve temperature records.
Cities in the Midwest and East Coast could see their coldest Christmas Eve on record as Winter Storm … [+]
Key Facts
Pittsburgh set a record low for the day on Friday, with temperatures dropping to -5 degrees Fahrenheit—two degrees colder than the previous record set in 1960.
Charleston, South Carolina, also broke its daily record set in 1989, with temperatures falling to 20 degrees Saturday morning.
Indianapolis, meanwhile, tied its daily record low temperature (-1 degree)—the lowest it’s been on Christmas Eve since 1983 and the city’s coldest day overall since 1994.
Athens, Georgia, also set a record daily low at 11 degrees just before midnight on Friday, its lowest since 1989.
On Thursday, Casper, Wyoming, set an all-time record low—a bone-chilling -42 degrees—while Bozeman, Montana, broke its daily record (-43) and Helena, Montana, tied its daily record (-35 degrees).
The temperature in Denver also plummeted to -20 degrees on Thursday, the lowest daily temperature recorded since 1990, as the Rocky Mountains experienced a sudden and intense temperature drop of more than 70 degrees in just 18 hours.
What To Watch For
Forecasters predict Tallahassee, Florida, and Atlanta will set record lows. Washington D.C., meanwhile, hit 5 degrees early this morning, and is only expected to rise to 20 degrees at Washington Dulles International, breaking a Christmas Eve record set in 1989, according to the NWS, as a band of arctic air dips into southern states.
Big Number
More than 240 million. That’s how many Americans were put under winter storm watches, warnings and advisories on Friday—more than two-thirds of the U.S. population. Wind chill advisories are in effect throughout the Midwest, as well as in parts of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee. The NWS also issued winter weather advisories in parts of Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin, as well as blizzard and winter storm warnings in Michigan and western New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) had warned residents planning on traveling for the holidays to do so before Friday or after Sunday.
Further Reading
In Photos: ‘Once-In-A-Generation’ Storm Batters Midwest And Northeast—1.5 Million Without Power (Forbes)
U.S. deep freeze forecast to break Christmas Eve records (Reuters)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/12/24/winter-storm-elliott-heres-which-cities-set-record-low-temperatures-so-far/