Winter arrived with a bang Thursday night into Friday, bringing snow, storms and seriously low temperatures to virtually the entire continent.
Temperatures throughout the west-central U.S. will reach about 20 degrees below normal Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts after a relatively mild fall season. Freezing weather and stormy conditions will travel up through the Rockies and into the High Plains throughout the rest of the holiday weekend, with many places already showing serious signs of winter.
“It may be Thanksgiving week, but it’s already starting to look a lot like Christmas in Wyoming!” AccuWeather said on Twitter, sharing a video of a group of people and pups going for a walk as the snow started to fall in Teton Village.
It may be Thanksgiving week, but it’s already starting to look a lot like Christmas in Wyoming! ☃️ pic.twitter.com/bhYkh3CYKK
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) November 24, 2023
Similar scenes were captured in Maine. One person took a beautiful video of a winter wonderland in Bridgton and it seriously looks like something out of a holiday movie.
Sit back, relax and enjoy some snow ASMR from this gorgeous winter wonderland in Maine. 😌☃️ pic.twitter.com/g4JGTE1JRp
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) November 23, 2023
In Tennessee, freezing fog hit Thanksgiving morning, meaning the air is “saturated” with supercooled water droplets that freeze almost instantly … which sounds terrifying but I’m sure was just very annoying. (RELATED: Snowfall Forecasts Are In, And It Looks Like It’ll Be A Cold Winter In The US)
At the NWS Goodland base, temperatures dropped to around 16 degrees with wind chill at 3 degrees, which is considered “moderate,” apparently.
Moderate snow at NWS Goodland at 8:55 am MST on Friday November 24, 2023. Visibility around 3/4 mile. Wind from the East @ 12 mph. Air temperature 16°F, wind chill 3°F. #kswx #cowx #newx pic.twitter.com/PuYcaiyQAd
— NWS Goodland (@NWSGoodland) November 24, 2023
Some 4.6 inches of snow is expected in southwest Nebraska by Saturday, potentially closing off parts of the I-80 corridor.
[ 11/24/23 @ 8:30 AM CT]
📌Hwy 97 S of MullenIt sure is a snowy morning across much of the area. Continuous light snow is expected with additional accumulations of 4-6″ through Sat. across across portions of southwest and central #Nebraska, including the I-80 corridor. #newx pic.twitter.com/7sCW9nGRXF
— NWS North Platte (@NWSNorthPlatte) November 24, 2023
The cold weather is expected to last throughout the weekend and likely through to the new year. Of course, anything could happen before then because we cannot actually predict the weather. It can only be forecast, which is basically a nice way of saying, “we be guessing.”