Federal forecasters said the forecast called for a cold wave across the eastern United States, with temperatures 10 to 15 degrees below average.
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It won’t be long until the cold and snow returns. AccuWeather’s long-term experts share what this winter will look like in the U.S.
A “shocking” arctic blast, with temperatures closer to mid-January than early November, will spread across the eastern half of the United States starting around Nov. 8, threatening to trap tens of millions of people in early polar ice, forecasters said.
“We’re moving through fall and quickly into winter,” Weather Trader meteorologist Ryan Maue told the X show, calling the cold weather “shocking” and “amazing.”
“The first arctic outbreak of the season will cause temperatures to plummet from the Dakotas to Florida early next week,” Ben Knoll, another Washington Post meteorologist, said on X.
Polar vortex?
Maue said the blast was a result of winter’s nemesis, the polar vortex, with the cold coming from as far away as Greenland and the Canadian Arctic.
Along with the colder air, lake effect snow is expected in the Great Lakes region and Northeast.
At the same time, much of the West will experience unusually calm or warm weather while the East will tremble.
chilly forecast
As cold, dry arctic air moves south from Canada, a cold front will move through the central and eastern United States early next week, bringing temperatures 10 to 15 degrees below average, according to the Weather Prediction Center.
According to Weather.com, “The coldest air of the season will arrive from Sunday (Nov. 9) through next Monday (Nov. 10) as a strong arctic cold front moves south into the United States.” “High temperatures will reach the 30s in areas like Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit, with highs in the 40s along I-95 and as far south as Atlanta.
“By Sunday and Monday morning, it will become wintry with low temperatures in the teens to 20s,” Weather.com’s forecast says.
Highs in the 30s will only reach the upper Midwest, Great Lakes and northern New England, while temperatures as far south as the Central Plains and Tennessee Valley could reach freezing temperatures, according to the Weather Prediction Center.
For many parts of the East, “nighttime temperatures are likely to fall below freezing, and areas that have not yet experienced their first freezing temperatures are likely to end the growing season,” the Climate Prediction Center said. “Temperatures could drop below 40 degrees Fahrenheit across the Southeast, which could lead to frost and damage to sensitive plants.”
Fortunately, Knoll said the arctic explosion will be short-lived. “It doesn’t mean winter will come early. We’ll see a return of calmer air.”
Even the snow will fly
Noll said some northern states will see snow, especially near the Great Lakes.
Specifically, the highlands of the Northwest could see snow on Friday, Nov. 7, and areas from the Northern Plains to the Great Lakes and New England could see snow on Saturday, Nov. 8 and Sunday, Nov. 9, the Weather Prediction Center said. “The Great Lakes and New England region will likely continue to experience wintry weather into early next week under deep upper-level low pressure and troughs.”
The combination of unusually cold air and flow patterns increases the chance of occasional snow across the interior Northeast and along the Allegheny Front, with the possibility of lake-effect snow in the lee of Lakes Ontario and Lake Erie, the Climate Prediction Center said.
Therefore, “a slight risk of heavy snow is expected in these areas from November 11th to 13th. Although the snowfall amounts in the models are not very impressive, given this is the beginning of the season, this would be worth noting,” the CPC said.
western warm climate
On the other hand, due to the development of strong ridges in the mountainous west, the temperature in that region can rise by 10-15 degrees above average.
Temperatures are expected to be above normal across the western half of the country next week, with the most unusually warm conditions likely to be in the Four Corners region, CPC said.
