Record frigid temps: Arctic cold on the move

Except for a few areas near the border over west Texas, the entire state is under some sort of cold warning. In fact, when we zoom out to see the entire United States, there are cold warnings from Georgia to the northwest to Washington State, including all the Central Plains and Midwest. This is all ahead of a winter storm that will bring many hazards, just in time for the holiday travels.

This morning’s look at the weather map reminded me a lot about February 2021, when a huge chunk of the United States, over 1,000 miles in diameter, was under a winter weather warning. Although there will be blizzard conditions across the Midwest, the cold will make most of the headlines as it will extend to many areas where this kind of weather is not often experienced, especially with the winds which will make the conditions dangerously cold.

The winds will also likely bring major impacts to areas across the Midwest through the Ozarks. Significant power outages are likely as winds could gust as much as 65 mph across places like Chicago.

For much of Texas, there is a wind chill watch. This means that dangerously cold wind chills are possible, likely from Thursday morning through Friday morning. These watches will likely be turned into warnings late Wednesday as the event gets closer to happening.

The temperatures as soon as Thursday morning will be as much as 30 degrees below normal for parts of Montana and Wyoming. The air mass has officially entered the United States and will continue to creep southward for the rest of this week into the weekend.

By Friday morning, the frigid air mass would have taken over the Central Plains, Midwest, and into the Ohio Valley. And by Saturday, three-quarters of the United States will be with temperatures well below normal.

The good news is that a high-pressure system starts to build from the west and the temperatures will be on the rebound by early next week. But before this happens there will be many record lows established. The biggest chill records will be set in the afternoons as many temperatures will stay very cold even during the middle of the day.

Denver will likely break the record lowest maximum temperature of -5 degrees as our forecast calls for -7 degrees! BRR!! By Friday, temperatures will be in the positives but still near the single digits.

As the cold migrates east, there will be nearly two dozen weather stations that could come near or break records for lowest maximum temperatures across the Ohio Valley through the Deep South. For example, Knoxville, Tenn., could have a high temperature of just 15 degrees, breaking that 18 degrees record of the lowest maximum temperatures established in 1989.

And just in time for Santa to load up the sleigh with gifts on Saturday afternoon, there will be over 50 stations across the East that will have very cold temperatures. Highs from Georgia northward will stay at or below freezing, while north Florida will struggle to reach 38 degrees in places such as Tallahassee. Even Miami will get in the cold blast fun this time around, struggling to reach 60 degrees on Saturday afternoon.