Snow Cover Contributing to Cold Air Outbreaks

One contributing factor to the next cold air outbreak will be the extent of snow cover across the US and Canada. It's only the first part of December, but already much of the northern US and nearly all of Canada have a good snowpack going (see image at right, courtesy of Intellicast). Currently, snow is covering the ground as far south as central Illinois, eastern Kentucky, and the mountains of North Carolina. This snow reflects sunlight back into space, and insulates the relatively warm ground from the cold air moving southward. The coming blast of cold air early next week will invade much of the eastern US -- including interior sections of south Florida where the mercury will plunge below freezing!  --TS