Coldest air of season grips Northeast with bitter wind chills

— -- It's brutally cold outside this morning in the Northeast, with winds gusting close to 40 mph from Washington, D.C. to Boston producing wind chills in the single digits and teens.

Even at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, wind chills will still be running from zero to 16 degrees from northern New York to North Carolina.

Behind this cold, a new dose of snow is forecast today into Thursday for the Great Lakes and the Northeast.

Because of the cold and snow, the National Weather Service has issued winter weather advisories, lake effect snow warning, winter storm warnings and wind chill advisory for 14 states, from North Dakota to North Carolina.

A new clipper system is moving into the Great Lakes Wednesday morning and spreading snow from Duluth, Minnesota to Green Bay, Wisconsin.

By Wednesday evening, heavy snow will be falling in Detroit and Cleveland. It will be falling from Pennsylvania to Long Island Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

The total snow accumulations with this clipper system will be more than a half a foot of snow from northern Wisconsin through Michigan. For the Northeast, the heaviest snow will be in western Pennsylvania and New York where up to 10 inches of snow could fall.

For major cities like New York, not a lot of snow is forecast, but a dusting to 1 inch is possible early Thursday morning.

Offshore winds increase in SoCal

Red flag warnings have been extended and expanded in southern and into central California through Wednesday due to the forecast gusty winds and very dry conditions.

Unfortunately, even stronger winds are forecast Thursday and Friday for Southern California, prompting the NWS to issue fire weather watch from Los Angeles to San Diego counties.

The NWS is warning that winds could increase Thursday and Friday for Los Angeles and Ventura counties and all the way to San Diego County. Winds could gust as high as 50 mph. Some mountains could see even higher gusts.