By Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch, staff and wire reports
COLUMBUS – It’s December, and we got some snow on Tuesday. That’s par for the slippery course in the last month of the year.
But single-digit temperatures? Gad.
Expect them this evening and Thursday evening. And the projected high of 12 on Thursday would be only 2 degrees warmer than the lowest high temperature on record for that date, set in 1914.
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The reason for this frigid forecast? “We just have a strong cold front coming through,” said Kristen Cassady, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio. “Air funneling southeast from Canada.”
Dare we call this a “polar vortex?”
“Sure,” Cassady said.
See, it’s just fun to write and read polar vortex.
The polar air will cause temperatures to dip to 7 to 9 degrees tonight and 4 to 5 degrees on Thursday night. Neither low would set a record, Cassady said.
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Average highs this time of year run around 40 degrees, with the average low at 28. So, yes, it is colder than normal, even for December.
What does this mean for area homeless shelters? “All the shelters have expanded capacity to make extra room to fit people in,” said Melissa Garver, development director for the Community Shelter Board. That means an additional 300 beds, bringing the total available to about 900 for men and women and 120 for families.
The county has six shelters for men; three for women; and two for families, she said.
The hotline to call about space for the homeless is 1-888-474-3587.
The cold brought snow, as much as 5 inches in parts of central Ohio, on Tuesday.
Arctic cold is expected to spread across the northeastern United States while the Midwest remains frigid through the work week.
The National Weather Service says much of the northern Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states will stay cold for the next couple of days. Forecasters say the arctic air will remain stuck over the northern Appalachians.
The northern Plains and Upper Midwest will remain stuck in the deep freeze. Highs today will range from 20 to 30 degrees below average. Temperatures will remain well below zero in Minnesota and Wisconsin on Wednesday night.
The system also is expected to bring widespread snow from the Great Lakes to the Northeast on Thursday. Much of the central U.S. will be dry but cool.