Broad sections of the country are in for their first taste of chilly weather this week as a cold front extending from the Plains states to New England brought reports of snow in parts of Chicago, western Maryland and West Virginia.
Temperatures across the Midwest have dropped as many as 20 degrees below average in some states, the Weather Channel reported, and those lows are expected to make their way east and south as the week continues.
By Wednesday evening, the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals could take the field at Fenway Park for “one of the coldest World Series games on record,” said Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore.
A low-pressure system known as an Alberta clipper is expected to bring showers and rush of cold air extending from Massachusetts to Virginia as it moves off the coast through the end of the week, dropping temperatures as much as 15 degrees in some regions, forecasters said.
While most areas should not expect more than an icy dousing of rain, there is a potential for snowfall in parts of upstate New York and Michigan, according to the National Weather Service.
The mercury fell as far south as Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, and there were reports of snow in the mountainous areas of western Maryland and West Virginia, according to NBC Washington. The snow wasn’t expected to reach all the way to the capital, but flakes were spotted in the area around Maryland’s Deep Creek Lake State Park, the station reported.
A slurry of wet white stuff blew into some Chicago suburbs on Tuesday, as residents of the Windy City bundled up in winter coats and hats against suddenly the sudden chill.
“I saw it was 37, but it feels like 20,” resident Eileen Chen told NBC Chicago as temperatures hovered around 20 to 30 degrees on Tuesday morning.
The season’s first dusting of snow caused minor troubles for some Iowa farmers in the middle of their harvest, local NBC News affiliate KWQC reported. The early snow and wet weather moved over the area on Tuesday night.
“It isn’t the weather I’d order if I was going to order weather for harvest,” Joe Dierickx, a farmer in Clinton County, told KWQC. “Now when we get back to work we’ll probably work a little harder just because we know the weather can change.”
Snow and rain mixed overnight in Indianapolis, marking what may be the most snow that city has seen before the end of October in 20 years, according to NBC News affiliate WTHR. Motorists sent photos into the station that showed a thin dusting of white powder on their cars and the roadways.
The frosty temperatures were expected to move into Southern states through Friday, riding a trough that stretches from the Upper Midwest. Frost advisories were in effect in parts of the Ohio Valley as temperatures dipped into the high 20s in some areas, the weather service reported.
Elevated areas of western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin could also see some snow, according to the Weather Channel.