“This first blast of arctic air brings dangerous cold, but is mostly limited to the northern states,” said CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen. “This next round of cold air for this weekend looks even more intense and will plunge south through much of the plains to Texas and probably set dozens of records.”
The cold air at the beginning of the week will be trapped in the northern half of the US, with high freezing temperatures all the way to southern Oklahoma. In northern Minnesota and much of Montana and North Dakota, the highlights will struggle to climb past zero.
“Wind chill values well below zero and as low as (minus) 50 degrees can sometimes be experienced” from Montana to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the WPC says.
Wind chill warnings go into effect early Monday afternoon for more than 5 million people. In some cases, it is so cold that frostbite can occur in as little as five minutes for those who are not properly dressed.
In Minneapolis, the high temperature only reached minus 3 degrees on Sunday. The last time the high temperature was so cold was more than two years ago, in January 2019. Temperatures there rise back to the teens midweek before dropping back to around zero this weekend.
Fargo, North Dakota, is another city that hasn’t experienced this kind of cold in years. Yesterday’s high was minus 8. It hasn’t been this cold since 2019, when the high was only 10 lower. The highs shouldn’t be as low as they were last weekend, but will hover around zero degrees this week.
Meanwhile, in the southern states, temperatures will be above average, and in some cases up to 20 degrees above the normal temperature for this time of year through Wednesday or Thursday.
But that will change as the week goes on.
Cold air will hit every continental American state
The cold air will gradually expand southward. By the weekend, every state in the Lower 48 would face below average temperatures. The only area that may be on the warmer side of normal is South Florida.
A very slow-moving cold front draped across the Southern Plains will serve as the boundary between high temperatures in the 1930s and 40s in North Texas and the 70s and 80s in Central and South Texas until mid-week.
On Wednesday, Dallas has a forecast high in the mid-40s, while Austin should be in the mid-70s. That’s about a 30 degree temperature difference in just over 200 miles.
Temperatures in the Northern Plains will rise above zero in the second half of this week. Teens and 20s are predicted from the interior in the northwest through the central plains, the midwest and the northeast in the interior, with the 40s and 50s expected in the south and southeast.
In some cases, these high temperatures can break records for cold.
The low temperatures will be even lower, with every state in the contiguous US, except Florida, expected to drop below freezing.
Within the next seven days, 40 million people could experience freezing temperatures.
Another explosion of dangerously cold air is expected on Valentine’s Day weekend.
The coldest air relative to normal may be in the south-central US.
“Some areas in the plains and in Texas can be 40 degrees or more below the average. Peaks that are normally above freezing at this time of year will see highs in the single digits,” says Hennen.
The Midwest and Northeast are also likely to cope with the cold. The lowest temperatures for the next seven days may not come until the weekend.
In New York City, the coldest temperature so far this winter was 14 degrees, measured in late January. It could get even colder in the next seven to 10 days, with lows possibly in the single digits.
In Chicago, the highlights are projected as just the single numbers. This has not happened since January 2019 when it was 1 degree.
The long-term forecast suggests that the cold will continue to dominate the US weather pattern next week.
“Unfortunately, these below-average temperatures do not appear to moderate or disappear in the near future,” the WPC said.