Unusually cold weather is expected to sweep much of the United States this weekend and into early next week, CNN reports. Temperatures will drop well below normal, and cold temperatures will likely even affect areas along the Gulf of Mexico.
After an unseasonably warm end to the year on Wednesday, cold air arrived in the northern US on Wednesday and will spread east and south over the next few days. Only the western states are affected by the cold.
In Chicago, the temperature will be around -6 degrees on Friday, and a few degrees of cold is expected at night. Slightly higher temperatures in Kansas City, Missouri, St. Louis and Cincinnati. A double freeze will spread to Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois on Saturday, and overnight temperatures could drop below -20 degrees in North Dakota.
The National Weather Service (NWS) predicts that much of the central and eastern US, including the Gulf of Mexico, could experience temperatures between 5 and 20 degrees below normal this weekend. For example, in Orlando, Florida, thermometers are usually above 20 degrees at the beginning of the year, while the temperature will probably exceed 10 degrees in the coming days.
Meteorologists warn that strong winds in some eastern states will cause the temperature to drop significantly.
Another cold wave
As CNN writes, this cold wave “may be just an appetizer, as a brutal attack of frost” is expected across the central and eastern United States on Monday and Tuesday.
Temperatures will likely drop from 10 to more than 30 degrees below zero by early next week. Even along the Gulf of Mexico, thermometers can show negative values at night. Temperatures rarely fall below freezing in New Orleans, and this is the first time that has happened since January of last year.
Over the next week, more than 70 percent of the country’s population is expected to experience sub-zero temperatures, CNN reports.
Main image credit: worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/X @NWS
