Freeze warnings and watches, as well as frost advisories, stretch from North Dakota and Minnesota south through the Great Plains and Midwest to Kansas and Missouri. Temperatures were forecast to drop to freezing — 32F — in Fargo along with stiff winds gusting to 50 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
Beulah, North Dakota could drop to 28F and there is a slight chance of snow showers on Friday. It will be 25F in North Platte, Nebraska, home of Union Pacific Railroad's Bailey Yard, the largest in the world, according to the city website.
As of 2 a.m. New York time, the coldest spot in the contiguous US was Angel Fire, New Mexico with a low of 19F, according to the US Weather Prediction Center. This is outside the freeze and frost area, but a sign winter is coming. Through Thursday, 0.6% of the contiguous US was covered by snow, according to the National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center, in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
In other weather news:
Atlantic: Tropical Storm Philippe could bring up to three inches of rain across New York and New England this weekend with isolated areas getting up to five inches, according to the National Hurricane Center. Philippe’s expected track has shifted west, which means it will likely make landfall in Maine on Sunday as post-tropical storm. While this means the storm won’t have the structure of a tropical system, it will still have winds up to 60 miles per hour and be capable of dropping heavy rain.
Pacific: Tropical Storm Lidia is growing in strength and its latest track takes it on a U-turn in the Pacific bringing it back toward Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center. It will have to be watched. And further to the west, Typhoon Koinu continues to edge closer to Hong Kong.
Japan: Storm and high wave warnings are out for northern areas, along with the threat of heavy rain, according to Japan Meteorological Agency. An emergency storm surge warning has been issued for the Nemuro Region on Hokkaido, the agency said.
Europe: Most of the continent will remain warmer than average for the next 10 days, while parts of the Nordic region will be cooler than normal, according to Maxar Technologies. Temperatures in Paris will hit 26C on Sunday, and will be above 20C the following weekend. Stockholm will be as much as 4.8C below average on Monday.
