Arctic blast to chill more than 235 million, as air from Polar Vortex surges across US in December deep freeze
By Monday, some 235 million Americans will be at or below freezing.
Arctic blast to chill 235M+, as air from Polar Vortex surges across US
Arctic air is creating chilly conditions for millions of Americans out shopping on Black Friday, as another shot of even colder air from a disrupted polar vortex is expected to further plunge temperatures through the weekend and into December.
Arctic air is creating chilly conditions for millions of Americans out shopping on Black Friday, as another shot of even colder air from a disrupted polar vortex is expected to further plunge temperatures through the weekend and into December.
![FILE - A person walks in freezing cold temperatures in New York City on January 17, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)]()
Image 1 of 5FILE - A person walks in freezing cold temperatures in New York City on January 17, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) ( )
![FILE - A man walks through the snow with a scarf over his face in Washington, DC, on January 8, 2014, as dry and unseasonably cold weather hits the area. An Arctic blast sweeping Canada and parts of the United States this week closed schools, grounded jets, killed at least four people, and even shook the ground. AFP PHOTO/JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)]()
Image 2 of 5FILE - A man walks through the snow with a scarf over his face in Washington, DC, on January 8, 2014, as dry and unseasonably cold weather hits the area. An Arctic blast sweeping Canada and parts of the United States this week closed schools, grounded jets, killed at least four people, and even shook the ground. AFP PHOTO/JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) ( )
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Image 3 of 5FILE - People walk in cold temperatures in New York City on January 17, 2024. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Image 4 of 5FILE - People walk through the freezing cold in the Brooklyn borough of New York on January 31, 2019. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP)
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Image 5 of 5A man walks along an ice-covered break-wall along Lake Michigan while temperatures were hovering around -20 degrees and wind chills nearing -50 degrees on January 31, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson)
Over 175 million Americans experienced below average temperatures on Black Friday. Even some places in the Southeast saw overnight low temperatures in the upper teens. Rossville, Tennessee on the Cumberland Plateau dropped to 19 degrees.
Many locations in the eastern half of the country saw a 15-20 degree temperature drop from Thanksgiving.
(FOX Weather)
According to the FOX Forecast Center, the coldest air of the season thus far will drop into the Mountain West from Canada due to a dip in the jet stream beginning Saturday.
This reinforcing shot of arctic air will spread across the south and east through the beginning of Sunday.
(FOX Weather)
In addition to the cold temperatures themselves, the arctic air is a necessary ingredient for two powerful winter storms, the first of which will blast the Midwest with up to a foot of snow beginning Saturday.
FILE - People bundled up walk on a street in Chicago, the United States, on Feb. 18, 2025. Despite the sunshine, it is likely the coldest day of this week in Chicago on Tuesday, with the highest temperature being minus 23.9 degrees Celsius and the lowest plunging to minus 28.3 Celsius degrees. The wind chill is at minus 31.6 degrees Celsius.
((Photo by Vincent D. Johnson/Xinhua via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
Meanwhile, a second storm system will follow closely, moving out of Canada and into the Rockies on Sunday.
This second system will drop more snow, thanks to the cold temperatures, across the Northern Tier and into the Mississippi Valley on Monday, before potentially reaching the East Coast Tuesday.
"Tracking temperatures is really important in the winter, because, of course, it makes you cold, but if you get a snowstorm that makes it even more important," said FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin.
(FOX Weather)
Meanwhile, there will be a case of weather whiplash for Denver, Colorado, which will reach the 60s on Friday and is expected to plummet to a low temperature of 13 degrees Sunday.
Bismarck, North Dakota is expected to drop to -1 degrees Sunday.
By Monday, some 235 million Americans will be at or below freezing, from the Mountain West to the mid-Atlantic coast and the heavily populated Interstate 95 corridor in the Northeast.
(FOX Weather)
While December marks the start of meteorological winter, these temperatures are unseasonably cold and more typical of early February.
The frigid conditions validate long-range forecasts from early November which showed a cold and snowy start to December due to a weakening in the Polar Vortex and the emergence of the La Niña climate pattern.
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What is the Polar Vortex?
During a significant snowstorm or a freezing cold snap, you may hear the term "polar vortex" bandied about. FOX Weather Meteorologist Ari Sarsalari explains what exactly the polar vortex is, how it works and how it influences our weather.
According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the cold and snow conditions will remain for most, through the first half of December.