The deep freeze continues.

Monday morning's temperature map of North America shows that the cold pool located over Ontario Saturday morning has migrated over Quebec and extends south of the Great Lakes and into New England. Note that the Great Lakes are not yet frozen and are 32 degrees F. The cold air is warmed and moistened as it crosses the Great Lakes, leading to huge snowstorms in towns downwind of the Lakes (like Grand Rapids, Michigan and Buffalo and Syracuse, New York). A second cold pool centered over Northern Saskatchewan moves in from the Arctic. It looks like this cold pool will keep us in the freezer for the rest of the week.

Can anyone use a pressure and wind map and describe the circulation of wind around high and low systems and explain how these winds push these Arctic cold pools towards Vermont?

Tropopause in Arctic air mass

The image at left shows the temperature at Albany, NY Monday morning. The stratosphere begins at the tropopause, where the temperature becomes constant (about -40 C) with height. In Arctic air masses, the tropopause is usually very low.