The coldest weather of the season is barreling into the U.S. this week with a series of "dangerously cold" arctic air masses.
The blasts of cold air will send temperatures 10-35 degrees below average for early January, Weather Channel meteorologist Roy Lucksinger said. High temperatures will range from near zero to the teens and 20s across a wide swath of the country.
The pattern is classic for winter, bringing frigid arctic air to nearly everyone east of the Rockies, National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Kocin said. The chilly weather will rival last year's January arctic outbreak that introduced the phrase "polar vortex" to America, he said.
"This is going to be a big cold outbreak, pretty windy as well," Kocin said. "It's going to drive all the way down south."
The first cold wave will cover the Plains and Great Lakes through Monday, while a second, even more frigid air mass blitzes into the Plains, Midwest and the East from Tuesday through Thursday, Lucksinger said.
Wind chills will plummet to minus 25 to minus 45 degrees from the northern Plains to the Ohio Valley. Frostbite can occur in as little as 10 minutes on exposed skin at that temperature.
The high temperature Monday in International Falls, Minn., the so-called icebox of the nation, will be only minus 7, with a wind chill of minus 45, the National Weather Service said. The city may eventually warm up to the single digits by Thursday.
In Chicago, the record low temperature of minus 10 could be "smashed" Thursday morning, WeatherBell meteorologist Ryan Maue said.
Some light snow — around 1-3 inches — is also in the forecast from the northern Plains to the Northeast early this week, AccuWeather said. Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland will see snow Monday, while New York City and Boston will get the white stuff Tuesday.
In the Northeast, high temperatures will be in the 20s from Boston to New York City and Philadelphia for several days this week, AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.
Wind chills could drop into the single digits and below zero in the Southeast on Wednesday, according to the Weather Channel. Birmingham, Ala., is forecast to see a wind chill near zero overnight into Thursday, the weather service said. Parts of Florida are likely to see wind chills in the teens.
In another repeat of last winter, the Southwest and West Coast will escape the worst of the frigid temperatures this week. High temperatures are forecast to be in the pleasant 60s and 70s in southern California and Arizona.
There's still some good news for those east of the Rockies: The chill may not be long-lived in the central and eastern U.S.
"Rather than the pattern lock in for the remainder of the month, it looks like temperatures will again moderate at mid-month from the central states to the East," AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Anderson said.
Contributing: The Associated Press
