A winter to remember: More storms on the way

If you live in the Midwest and don’t like skiing — or shoveling snow — you are probably suffering from winter fatigue.

January 2014 was brutal for Midwesterners, especially for those living in the Motor City. Metro Detroit recorded 39.1 inches of snow, breaking its all-time record of 38.4 inches. On average, Detroit received 12.5 inches of snow during January, so the city tripled its average monthly snowfall.

Records were also broken in Flint, Mich., which was hit with 32.9 inches of snow in January alone. And in Chicago, winter is featuring subzero temperatures and wind chills of minus 40. The Windy City has been the epicenter of cold this winter. So far, there have been 19 days where the low temperature has plummeted below zero, tying the record from the winter of 1872-1873.

But why the extreme temperatures and record-breaking snowfall?

Al Jazeera meteorologist Dave Warren says that in the East “a persistent deep troth in the jet stream stretching across the Central Plains, Midwest and Northeast paved a pathway for several bursts of polar outbreaks” that not only smashed snowfall and temperature records but also left millions in the dark and cold for days.

That was the story in the Mid-Michigan region just three days before Christmas. Temperatures plummeted and ice blanketed the I-69 corridor resulting in multiple accidents.

“The storm was one of a kind. It caused more than 10,500 power lines to be knocked down,” said Brian Wheeler, a spokesperson for Consumers Energy. “That’s a record for Consumers Energy for any one storm.”

California, on the other hand, has suffered from a historic lack of precipitation.

“Warmer Pacific waters led to a persistent ridge of high pressure out West,” said Warren. That pressure system perpetuated drought conditions in places where water reservoirs were already depleted, causing water shortages for millions of Californians. The unusually dry winter season combined with temperatures 15 to 30 degrees above average, has resulted in a substantially low snow pack on mountain ranges like the Sierra and Cascades and heightened the fire threat across southern California.

Across the Southeast, a powerful winter storm crippled Atlanta for days. Only two inches of snow fell on the city, but the photos and stories that emerged made the storm one for the history books. Roads, schools, churches, government offices and businesses were closed. Thousands of flights were canceled and thousands of Atlanta residents were trapped in their cars on gridlocked highways.

A similar storm, which could prove more crippling than the last, began to blanket the southeast on Tuesday and is expected to last through Thursday. Long stretches of I-20, I-95 and I-85 will be coated with ice. Severe power outages and dangerous travel conditions are likely, especially across Central Georgia and South Carolina. The storm will then take aim at the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Areas like Chester County, Pa., and Baltimore, Md., which dealt with a storm last week that knocked out power to over 800,000, may have up to a foot of snow by Friday afternoon.