Winter's Coldest Yet to Come for Northeast from Yet Another Arctic Blast

Linda Lam
Published: February 6,2015




 
Have you had enough of the snow and cold in the Northeast? There's bad news for you in the forecast. A strong push of arctic air will move into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic late next week, and it looks likely that many locations will see their coldest weather of the winter. In fact, some could see the lowest temperatures in many years.

Chilly conditions have been in place for much of the Northeast since start of the year, except for a few brief breaks in January. Low temperatures have typically dropped into the single digits and teens for many in New England, with occasionally even colder readings. Boston saw below-average temperatures for 26 of the first 36 days of this year, with 15 of those days being at least 8 degrees below average.
(MORE: Cold Start to February)
Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be much relief in the near future. Temperatures will rebound closer to average into the beginning of next week for the Northeast but will still be slightly below average.
Then late next week another surge of arctic air will be ushered into the Midwest and Northeast as cold high pressure builds south from Canada and the jet stream buckles southward over the eastern U.S.
(MORE: Expert Analysis | Winter Storm Central)

Another Round of Arctic Cold

On Thursday morning, subzero low temperatures will make a reappearance on the map in portions of the northern Plains and Upper Midwest. Highs on Thursday afternoon will once again be only in the single digits and teens from the Upper Midwest through the Great Lakes region.
The bitterly cold temperatures then spread east on Friday with highs up to 30 degrees below average. Current forecasts indicate that high temperatures will only reach the single digits and teens from the Great Lakes region into New England and as far south as southern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey.
This includes Boston, where temperatures may not even reach 10 degrees on Friday. The last time that happened was on January 15, 2004. January 2004 is also the last time New York City failed to climb above 15 degrees for a high; that could happen this Friday. In fact, if the Big Apple's high is 14 or colder it will be the city's coldest daily high in at least 21 years.
Washington, D.C. may not even reach freezing on Friday afternoon.
(FORECAST: New York | Boston | Philadelphia | Washington, D.C.)
Frigid temperatures will be the story Friday night into Saturday morning. Low temperatures are expected to be in the single digits and subzero for much of the Northeast and Great Lakes, with teens through the Mid-Atlantic. This would bring the coldest temperatures of the season to much of the region, including Boston; New York; Portland, Maine; and Burlington, Vermont.
New York City may see a long stretch of below freezing highs starting on Wednesday. The longest stretch of days with temperatures below freezing this winter has been 3 days and last winter the longest stretch was 5 days and this upcoming cold blast could top that. New York may even see a couple of days in a row with lows in the single digits.
(MAPS: 10-Day Forecast Highs/Lows)
Record low temperatures are also a possiblity on Friday and Saturday mornings. On Friday, Islip, New York (current record is 11), Bridgeport, Connecticut (-2) and Providence, Rhode Island (-5) could also break record low temperatures. Central Park (2), Boston (-3) and Albany (-10) are all within reach of their record lows on Saturday morning.
Wind chills will also be a concern late next week in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Wind chill values, or what the temperatures feels like, will be well below zero at times in the Northeast which could make frostbite a concern. Farther south, wind chills will be in the single digits and teens in the Mid-Atlantic.
This cold stretch is likely to continue through mid-February. The temperature outlook issued from the Climate Prediction Center shows a greater than 70 percent chance of below-average temperatures in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic during the February 13 - 19 time frame.
Senior meteorologist Nick Wiltgen contributed to this report.
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