Freeze alert: Arctic blast will bring coldest air of the season from Dallas to Boston
An arctic blast looming across much of the U.S. will cause temperatures to plummet by 30 to 40 degrees this weekend and into next week, bringing a hazardous freeze from parts of the Midwest to the East Coast and even Southern states like Texas.
The cold air will start in the Rockies and Great Plains on Friday, reach the Deep South and Great Lakes by Saturday night, then stretch into the East Coast on Sunday, forecasters said. Donald Trump's presidential inauguration on Monday will be held indoors due to the frigid forecast, he announced Friday.
From Saturday into at least Tuesday, the freeze is expected to blast the Plains and upper Midwest with high temperatures in the single digits to teens with wind chills of 30 to 50 degrees below zero at times.
"This poses a heightened risk of hypothermia and frostbite to exposed skin," the Weather Prediction Center said.
In the central Plains and Midwest, highs are expected in the teens to 20s. Parts of northern Texas will also experience the cold blast, with temperatures in the 30s to 40s, according to the National Weather Service.
Parts of the country still covered in inches of snow from an early January winter storm won't see much thawing as the arctic air takes aim. A winter storm expected to dump several inches of snow from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast Sunday will be followed by the bitter cold reaching the East on Monday with "the coldest temperatures so far this season," the Weather Prediction Center said.
How cold will it get in major cities?
Several major metropolitan areas around the country are predicted to see temperatures well below their averages for this time of year. AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Bob Larson said some record low temperatures could be set in the central and Eastern parts of the country.
The coldest day in New York City will be Tuesday, the weather service there said. The combination of cold air and wind will make it feel close to zero, and high temperatures will be in the teens with lows in the single digits Tuesday and Wednesday. Wind chill overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning could get to between zero and -5 degrees along the coast and between -5 and -10 degrees in interior areas.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area is expecting overnight low temperatures that feel like single digits to teens due to wind chill between Saturday and Tuesday. Houston Marathon runners on Sunday will experience morning temperatures in the 30s that feel like they're in the 20s, the weather service there said.
Washington, D.C.'s metropolitan region will see snowfall on Sunday, followed by the coldest air in the last couple years, forecasters said. Inauguration Day on Monday could be one of the coldest on record, according to AccuWeather. Temperatures will be around 20 with bitterly cold wind gusts making it feel like single digits, the National Weather service said. Overnight temperatures will feel below zero in the region.
In Boston, cold weather advisories are expected for bitter temperatures that will start on Monday with highs in the teens to 20s and lows through Wednesday in the single digits or even below zero in some areas, with wind chills making it feel closer to -10 to -15 degrees.
Chicago will struggle to get above single digits early next week, AccuWeather said, with multiple nights getting below zero.
In Florida, much of the peninsula will be spared from the freeze, but it is expected to get to freezing in the central and south parts of the state during the arctic blast, according to AccuWeather.
Contributing: Doyle Rice, Paste BN