8:15 AM ***Major Arctic outbreak plunges through central US…powerful Arctic front reaches Mid-Atlantic late Friday…damaging winds, quick freeze-up, even a snow squall…very cold Christmas weekend**** — Arcfield Weather

Later this week, the Arctic air mass will begin to spread to the northeast from the central states towards the Mid-Atlantic region. At the leading edge of this Arctic air mass there will be a powerful surface Arctic frontal system.  This front will reach the I-95 corridor of the Mid-Atlantic region on Friday night and it can be a very dramatic frontal passage.  Winds will become very strong with damaging gusts quite likely from Friday night into Saturday, Christmas Eve – not a good time to be an inflatable Christmas decoration. Temperatures will plunge following the frontal passage on Friday night and there can be a quick-freeze-up or “flash freeze” of any lingering wet spots on roadways left behind from the prior rainfall. In addition, snow shower and even heavier snow squalls may develop in a still very unstable atmosphere which can result in quick coating on some roadways. 

Christmas Eve (Saturday) and Christmas Day (Sunday) will feature very cold weather conditions in the Mid-Atlantic region and throughout the eastern US …some of the coldest conditions in years for these two days. Winds will remain quite strong as well for much of the upcoming weekend which could be problematic for the lighting of luminaries in neighborhoods that follow that tradition.

Stay tuned…the late week is still an evolving and quite volatile weather situation.

Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Arcfield
arcfieldweather.com

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