A “deep freeze” continued to engulf an area spanning most of the eastern two-thirds of the country Sunday and will move through the Midwest and the South during the week.
A mixture of freezing rain and sleet is expected to affect Oklahoma and Kansas on Sunday evening and spread further into the Midwest and the Great Lakes region over the next two days, according to the National Weather Service.
A bitter blast of Arctic air lingered across much of the United States this weekend, with tens of millions enduring bone-chilling cold and facing dangerous icy conditions, as weather-related deaths numbered more than 60. Heavy snow blanketed parts of the Northeast and Midwest on Friday, and the plunging temperatures overnight left roadways slick.
Most deaths were in Tennessee, where temperatures have reached 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures are expected to get warmer as the week progresses, according to the National Weather Service field office in Nashville.
The Midwest and parts of the South will continue experiencing icy temperatures.
“Sub-freezing temperatures will reach as far south as central Texas and northern Florida while sub-zero temperatures will be found across the upper Midwest,” the National Weather Service said.
In Florida, a few areas saw freezing temperatures Sunday morning, including in northern Lake County.
This area of high pressure will then move eastward to the East Coast Monday, but temperatures are expected to warm up for the middle of the country over the next week.
In Oklahoma and Kansas, the Arctic air will make for sleet and ice Sunday night. Freezing rain is also forecast in Arkansas and will transition to regular rain on Monday, according to the National Weather Service field office in Little Rock.
“The moisture will continue to surge northeastward into the Midwest on Monday, overrunning the arctic air and resulting in freezing rain/sleet,” the weather service said. “By Monday night into early Tuesday, an upper-level trough exiting the southern Rockies will interact with a front to bring an expanding area of snow into the upper Midwest into lower Michigan toward the lower Great Lakes.”
The National Weather Service is warning that travel may be impacted by the winter conditions.
