West braces for a week of freezing weather


DENVER The jet stream hunkered to the south Wednesday, promising to bring nearly a week of temperatures that could dip below minus-20 in the nation's northern midsection, and leaving much of the rest of the country with unexpectedly low temperatures.

Dense, cold air sunk into Rocky Mountain valleys and kept some lower elevations in freezing weather in the West.

The dip in the jet stream is allowing Arctic air to plunge deeper into the United States. To add to the trouble, AccuWeather senior forecaster Paul Walker said a new storm likely will develop in New Mexico and West Texas today and head east, bringing ice and potentially power outages.

Extreme cold is nothing new in the Rockies, with temperatures regularly dropping each winter to minus-20 or minus-25. The difference this year: the duration of this cold snap.

In Montana, National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Bernhardt said the last extended cold period was in the winter of 1996.

Low temperatures in Denver are expected to drop below zero through Friday but remain below 20 through the middle of next week. The storm dumped several inches of snow in Denver, and parts of Colorado's mountains were expected to receive up to 3 feet by the end of the day.

Snowfall totals also could approach 3 feet in northeastern Minnesota, where the weather has contributed to hundreds of traffic accidents, including at least five fatal crashes since Monday. Two other fatal crashes in Montana and North Dakota were blamed on the weather.

In a switch, lower-elevation valleys could see lower temperatures than the mountains in the West.

“It actually gets a little warmer as you go higher up in the mountains because cold air tends to be dense and heavy, so it may cool faster up in the mountains but then it just flows downhill and pools in the valley,” said Richard Emanuel, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cheyenne, Wyo.

Laramie, home of the University of Wyoming, sits in a valley between two mountain ranges and was expected to have temperatures dip to minus-29 Wednesday night and early today. The record low for Dec. 5 is minus-33, in 1972.

Digital & Driveway Delivery - 50% Off
User Agreement



Programs & Promotions
Business Directory
Ads by Google