Weather pattern will keep temperatures below freezing

By OWEN BOSS
Staff Writer

As a corridor of arctic air continues to produce high winds and unseasonably low temperatures as far south as Florida and Alabama, local residents are preparing for freezing conditions and a week during which local weather experts are predicting overnight lows to consistently drop into the low teens.

The National Weather Service predicts that daily highs across the region will remain in the high 20s and low 30s through this weekend, and overnight lows are expected to be between 10 and 15 degrees, chilly conditions that News 22 meteorologist Brian Lapis attributed to a stalled weather pattern hovering over parts of the Northeast.

“The storm system that produced just a little bit of snow here late last week just doesn’t seem to want to leave the region and it is causing a ton of cold air to be drawn down from Canada and the Arctic,” Lapis said. “A storm system like this produces a kind of atmospheric highway that will bring colder air right down into the southern states.”

Although temperatures well below freezing can be expected in northern states during the winter months, Lapis said an entire week spent below freezing is abnormal this early in the season.
“What is remarkable is that it looks like we are going to struggle to reach freezing most of the days this week, and there is a very good possibility that we won’t get above freezing as far out as Sunday,” Lapis said.

Outside of Thornes Marketplace Monday night, area residents like Tim Hawley, of Easthampton, hustled down the sidewalk and braved the elements by bundling up in several layers of winter clothing. “People should expect it to be this cold this time of year — this is New England,” Hawley said. “All you can do is wear winter clothes and stay inside whenever you can.”

Lapis said it’s a common misconception that it can be “too cold to snow,” but he expects current weather conditions to limit any precipitation this week, expected for Wednesday and Friday, to flurries.

“The one upside for us is that this pattern keeps large coastal storm systems away from us. Because it isn’t leaving, we can rule out any significant accumulation through the end of the weekend,” Lapis said.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com