Major Cold Surge To Hit China; Arctic Air Returns To US; Another SSW Builds; Hemisphere Cooling Spike; El Niño Watch; Satellite Surface Data Show No Warming; + Higher CO2 Has Boosted US Crop Yields

This demonstrates how rapidly cooling can develop when the circulation setup allows.

Major Cold Surge To Hit China

A powerful late-winter cold surge is about to rip across eastern China, delivering a sharp and rapid temperature collapse over the next five days.

Forecasts show temperatures tanking by 10 to 20C from the Northeast through East China as polar air drives south with little resistance. The drop will be abrupt, increasing the risk of flash freezing, transport disruption, and infrastructure stress.

Rain is expected to flip rapidly to heavy snow as the cold air undercuts moist systems moving in from the south.

Updates to follow.

Arctic Air Returns To US

Another powerful Arctic front is driving sharply colder air into the northeastern U.S. late Friday and through the weekend, bringing snow, dangerous wind chills, and another reminder that winter is far from done.

Latest ECMWF runs show bitter cold pressing all the way to the I-95 corridor.

Wind chills are forecast to drop into the -10F range (-23C), with interior areas facing -20F to -30F (-29C to -34C).

Light to moderate snowfall is expected along the frontal boundary, but the dominant feature is the cold.

The Great Lakes will continue their freeze-up:

While the East shivers, attention is turning west. The next two weeks show an increasingly favorable setup for widespread snowfall across the Western U.S.

A series of Pacific systems tapping cold air will deliver heavy mountain snow, giving pack a much needed boost across the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades, and parts of the Rockies. After a slow start to the season in some regions, snowpack will finally assert itself out West.

Another SSW Builds

Looking further ahead, another stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) event is now unfolding.