Weather report: Bitterly cold air sweeps across the upper Midwest

In the West, cool weather prevails across the northern half of the region. A few showers are affecting the Pacific Northwest, while some snow is falling across portions of the northern and central Rockies. Meanwhile, warm, dry weather continues to promote fieldwork in southern California and the Southwest.

On the Plains, mostly dry weather prevails. Is olated snow showers are crossing Montana and the east-central Plains. Cold weather across the majority of the nation’s mid-section contrasts with warm, breezy conditions on the southern High Plains. Today’s high temperatures could reach or exceed 90°F in southeastern New Mexico.

In the Corn Belt, bitterly cold conditions are maintaining stress on livestock in the upper Midwest. This morning’s temperatures plunged below 0°F in parts of Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas. Cold, breezy conditions cover the remainder of the Midwest, and snow showers linger downwind of the Great Lakes.

In the South, cool, dry weather favors spring fieldwork. However, freeze warnings are in effect this morning parts of the Carolinas, as well as northern portions of Alabama and Georgia.

Outlook: For the remainder of today, warmth will be confined to areas from southern California to Texas. Any lingering warmth across the Deep South will be replaced by colder weather during the weekend. By early next week, cold weather will persist nearly nationwide, although warmth will return to California. During the next several days, a series of disturbances will maintain unsettled conditions across the Northwest, northern and central Rockies, central Plains, and from the Mid-South into the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic States. Five-day precipitation totals could reach 1 to 3 inches in the Southeast, while significant, late-week snowfall can be expected across the central Plains and portions of the Mid-South. The NWS 6- to 10-day outlook for March 26-30 calls for colder-than-normal conditions east of the Rockies and along the Pacific Coast, while near-normal temperatures will prevail in the West. Meanwhile, near- to below-normal precipitation across the majority of the U.S. will contrast with wetter-than-normal weather in the lower Southeast.