Frigid Start to February for the Midwest, Northeast

By Chyna Glenn, AccuWeather.com Meteorologist

February 2,2015; 8:02PM,EST

 

 

Winter is in full force as invasions of arctic air following back-to-back storms impact a wide swath of the Midwest and Northeast during the first several days of February.
The storms have left behind a deep snowcover from parts of the central Plains to the upper mid-Atlantic and New England.
According to AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski, "Deep, fresh snowcover provides a path of low resistance for invading cold air from Canada and can hold temperatures back on a sunny day."

Waves of arctic air will continue to drop southeastward through the week.
The first wave of frigid February air will blast in through Tuesday, setting the stage for daytime highs to struggle to reach the 20-degree mark in the Midwest, with teens and even the single digits in store for most of northern New England and the upper Great Lakes.
AccuWeather.com RealFeel® Temperatures will be kept in the teens and single digits from Boston to New York City and westward through Detroit and Chicago on Tuesday.

A brief spike in temperature will occur ahead of an Alberta Clipper storm, in between the two invasions of arctic air around Wednesday. However, temperatures in most cases will stop short of average for early February.
The second punch of arctic air will invade the Midwest and Northeast during the second half of the week.
Despite sunshine, temperatures will struggle to rise much during the daytime. AccuWeather.com RealFeel® Temperatures in Minneapolis and Chicago will spend considerable time below zero F on Thursday.
Actual low temperatures Thursday night will be subzero in Detroit; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany, New York. Temperatures in much of northern New England will plummet well below zero F, with some areas plummeting toward 20 degrees below zero.
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Temperatures will begin to moderate in the Midwest on Friday. Minneapolis will flirt with the freezing mark for the first time in February, and Chicago will climb through the 20s.
Temperatures closer to average for the beginning of February will inch towards the Northeast this weekend.
According to AccuWeather.com Long Range Expert Paul Pastelok, a pattern of in-and-out cold will become more pronounced moving forward through February and early March.