Much of U.S. in Store for Rocky Week of Weather Surrounding Christmas

The Northeast is bracing for what is expected to be the coldest temperatures of the season just in time for the official start to the astronomical winter.

Temperatures Set to Tumble in Eastern U.S. by the Weekend

Residents of the Northeast will not be questioning the arrival of the winter solstice on Saturday thanks to a blast of bitterly cold air that will pair with gusty winds that will make for frigid temperatures. The mass of cold air will move in from the Midwest and into the Northeast at the end of the week.

While the temperatures will certainly feel cold for those in the Midwest, the readings will likely remain a bit higher than what the region has already experienced at the start of December. Temperatures are forecast to trend about 10 degrees below the historical average in the nation's heartland for a few days. For instance, after enjoying high temperatures in the mid 50s on Thursday, Kansas City will struggle to break past the freezing mark for highs on Friday.

The Great Lakes will also be at the mercy of brisk winds that make it feel even chillier outside. Chicago saw a stretch of frigid days last week, including readings that hovered in the teens for a high on December 12. This upcoming influx of cold air will trend a bit warmer with temperatures bottoming out for highs in the upper 20s over the weekend. Overnight lows will land in the teens on both Friday and Saturday night. However, the cold winds will send the real feel readings down into the single digits during this time period.

College football fans will be dealing with the cold weather as they head out for the much-anticipated first round of playoff games. The University of Indiana is scheduled to head to South Bend, Indiana to take on Notre Dame on Friday night. The forecast is calling for snow showers to start the day, potentially creating issues for travelers. Temperatures will hold steady in the low to mid 30s before dropping into the low 20s overnight. Game spectators and players will also be dealing with winds out of the north-northeast at 10 to 20 mph.

Northeast to Experience Most Dramatic Temperature Fluctuations

It will be a different story for the Northeast, an area that has seen a warmer start to the month. The influx of cold air and high winds will be even more noticeable in this corner of the country. A large swath of the Northeast, New England, the mid-Atlantic, the eastern Great Lakes, and the central Appalachians will all likely experience the coldest readings of the season thus far beginning late Friday and lingering through Sunday.

The last Arctic blast earlier in the month was warmed up as it moved over the more moderate water temperatures of the Great Lakes as it traveled from west to east. However, the upcoming batch of cold air is coming from the more eastern areas of Canada, meaning that it will not move over as much area of the Great Lakes. This point of origination will mean that little to no warming of the air will happen.

The gusty winds left behind by the Alberta clipper on Thursday will pair with the cold air to create potentially dangerous conditions outside for the central Appalachians and over into the mid-Atlantic coastal area and New England. The coldest air will hit late Friday and again on Saturday night.

Like fans traveling to South Bend on Friday night for the big game, those heading to State College, Pennsylvania for the playoff contest between SMU and Penn State on Saturday will also want to dress warmly. The college town in central Pennsylvania is forecast to see mostly cloudy skies with a high of just 28 degrees. Winds out of the northwest at 10 to 15 mph will pair with a low of about 12 degrees.

There will be a chill in the air for revelers taking in all of the holiday festivities in New York City over the last weekend before Christmas. The Big Apple has already recorded several days in December with highs that maxed out in the low to mid 30s. The coldest lows of the season thus far have hovered in the mid 20s. Forecasters are warning that even colder air is on the way for the weekend for this part of the Northeast.

New York City is forecast to see highs on Sunday and Monday that struggle to climb out of the mid 20s. Overnight lows will bounce around between the upper 10s to the low 20s during this time frame. Real feel readings will be even chillier, topping out in the teens and single digits thanks to the bitterly cold winds that will sweep through the city. Winds will clock in at speeds of 15 to 30 mph from the north-northwest with gusts reaching 35 to 45 mph on Friday and Saturday across much of the Northeast.

The Southeast will also see some of the cold air by late in the week. The overnight lows in this region will drop below freezing for consecutive days for many major metro areas. For example, Atlanta is forecast to see a nighttime low of 30 degrees on Friday with readings in the upper 20s on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights. Highs during this time period will hover in the upper 40s.

Lastly, the incoming mass of cold air will also lay the groundwork for more lake-effect snow in the Great Lakes on Friday and through the weekend. The change in the wind direction may result in accumulating snow for some parts of the Great Lakes that have missed out on measurable snowfall with the earlier systems.

Did you find this content useful? Feel free to bookmark or to post to your timeline for reference later.