A majority of the East Coast, from northern Florida up to New England, is bracing for a massive winter storm that will bring hurricane winds and record cold temperatures to the region on Wednesday and Thursday.
Winter Storm Grayson is expected to blanket the coastal states with “arctic air,” leading to temperatures that are 20 to 40 degrees below normal January averages.
Meteorologists say snow and sleet are forecasted for southern states like Florida and South Carolina, and blizzard-like conditions are expected for northern states.
In addition, a weather event that experts call a “bomb cyclone” — which is best described as a freezing hurricane — is currently brewing in the Atlantic.
The “bomb cyclone” is expected to move up from the Florida coast and rapidly intensify as it heads towards eastern New England.
Current predictions are calling for hurricane-strength winds and some of the coldest temperatures in 100 years.
All day Thursday meteorologists are going to be glued to the new GOES-East satellite watching a truly amazing extratopical "bomb" cyclone off New England coast. It will be massive — fill up entire Western Atlantic off U.S. East Coast. Pressure as low as Sandy & hurricane winds pic.twitter.com/6M4S3y75wT
— Ryan Maue | weather.us (@RyanMaue) January 2, 2018
The New England region is expected to suffer temperatures colder than Alaska during the storm.
[Worcester, MA or Fairbanks, AK] Do you want to escape the bitter cold? Not too often Worcester, MA features a 5 day forecast that is colder than Fairbanks, Alaska. Enjoy the "relatively" mild weather @NWSFairbanks. pic.twitter.com/0enIDVtp8Z
— NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) January 2, 2018
The storm is expected to be so severe, that FEMA is currently making disaster preparations and warning people to stay out of harms way.
With @NWS calling for wintry weather for the East Coast & parts of the South, take some time now to put blankets, a shovel, & road salt/sand in your car. It’s best to stay off the roads but if you must drive, let someone know your route & when you arrive. https://t.co/8m7cZ4gu69 pic.twitter.com/VQ0knAOSpt
— FEMA (@fema) January 2, 2018
According to Mashable’s Andrew Freedman:
“Some computer models are projecting a minimum central air pressure of below 950 millibars at its peak, which would be nearly unheard of for this part of the world outside of a hurricane. For comparison, Hurricane Sandy had a minimum central pressure of about 946 millibars when it made its left hook into New Jersey in 2012,”
Although the worst of the winter storm is expected to hit on Wednesday and Thursday, the freezing weather is expected to remain in the region through the weekend.
Temperatures are expected to finally return to normal early-to-mid next week.