Big Part of USA Has Been on Ice for a Month

If it seems colder and snowier than usual, it's no winter mirage

Feb. 6, 2004
By Patrick O'Driscoll and Chris Cappella, USA TODAY

In much of the Great Plains, Midwest and Northeast, temperatures are down — sometimes to historic lows — and snowfall is up. Nearly 54% of the contiguous 48 states is snow-covered.

A large storm moving east from the Plains and Midwest Friday is likely to bring more precipitation, first as snow and later as ice and rain in much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Another Arctic blast is expected Sunday.

The federal government's Climate Prediction Center forecasts below-normal temperatures virtually coast-to-coast from Tuesday through Feb. 18.

Forecasters blame the "Arctic Express," a steady stream of cold air from Canada, and eastbound fronts full of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. The "lake effect" from shots of cold over Lake Ontario smothered parts of Upstate New York last week in up to 7 feet of snow.

"It's kind of surreal. Everything's just completely buried," says Patrick O'Hara, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Buffalo. A storm from Jan. 28-31 dumped 86 inches of snow on Parish, N.Y., about 25 miles north of Syracuse.

• New York City had its second-coldest January in 70 years, with temperatures below normal every day from Jan. 6 through last Monday. Snowfall in December and January totaled 37.1 inches, more than three times average.

• Omaha had three times as much January snow as normal. Just five days into February, snowfall for the month already is triple the normal amount. Minneapolis also has passed its average for February.

• Syracuse's 132.7 inches of snow this season is more than twice the normal amount.

• Boston dropped below zero four times last month, the coldest in nearly 25 years. December snowfall was three times normal.

• Grand Forks, N.D., recorded its lowest temperature ever on Jan. 30 — minus-43 degrees. The 23.7 inches of snow in January was twice the month's average.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2004-02-05-jan-cold_x.htm