COLDEST STRETCH SINCE 1912....

LIMITED COPIES LEFT:

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Winter is wrecking havoc across the country -- ice, snow, and brutal cold. The map of the alerts I showed yesterday expanded even further. On Sunday all of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas were in a Winter Storm Warning (pink).

Wind Chill Warnings encompass much of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, South and North Dakotas. The bitter cold could be felt across much of the US on the day of love.. Temperatures started near records Sunday morning:

All of those blue and green dots indicate temperatures breaking or within 3 degrees of record low temperatures. Then check out the afternoon:

Ooofta. It was the coldest Valentine's Day on record (in terms of high temperatures) for Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, and Moline with afternoon temperatures remaining well below zero.

The cold continues into the new week with another bitter day Monday with temperatures near zero:

Wind chills will remain in the teens and 20s below zero through the day once again:

Additionally there will be some light snow into Monday morning --

And more Monday night into Tuesday:

Highest chances will be in extreme southeast Iow into Illinois and then to the east. Here's a look at the snowfall totals on the GFS:

And the more aggressive NAM:

I think the GFS is generally on the right track, but we'll have to closely watch the exact track of this system as to how far the snow expands to the east or west. Here's a look at the NWS forecast -- I think this sums it up well:

Good news is the arctic air starts to lift out as the week goes on. Temperatures will start to climb into the teens and 20s by the middle of the week. So... coldest since 1912 where does that come in? Temperatures in Cedar Rapids have been running below 10° for the last nine days in a row (it'll be 9 including Sunday)

This is the longest such stretch to happen in the month of February and now the second longest on record. The longest since 1912! We'll look to get above that 10° mark on Wednesday or Thursday.

Stay warm... RK