The coldest weather since last winter will hammer the Northeast this weekend, with temperatures 20 to 25 degrees below normal expected in some cities.
A wave of arctic air rolled over the region Thursday night, creating wind gusts of 40 mph in Boston and other spots along the Atlantic. The National Weather Service had issued a wind advisory for all of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and northern Connecticut but the advisory was canceled Friday afternoon.
Temperatures are expected to plummet Friday night and Saturday morning and possibly set records, CNN meteorologist Monica Garrett said. The weather service said the wind-chill values will remain in the single digits for the majority of the region, with temperatures dropping into the teens overnight.
New York is expected to have a low around 23 degrees Friday night, according to the National Weather Service. The city’s high temperature for Friday will be 37 degrees, almost 20 degrees below the normal high for that date.
In Boston, the mercury will drop to 19 degrees on Friday, the weather service said, with a high in the upper 30s. The city’s record low for that date was 24 degrees, set in 1901.
The lows will drop to 24 for Philadelphia and 27 in Washington on Friday.
What’s causing the cold?
A cold front hit the Northeast early this week, dropping temperatures 15 to 20 degrees from Monday into Tuesday, Garrett said. Then a second cold front moved over the northern Plains through the Midwest and Northeast, bringing the current cold spell.
It won’t last forever. The weather will warm up on Sunday and start returning to normal early next week.
The Midwest is already feeling the cold.
Below-zero temperatures were recorded Thursday morning in North Dakota. The high temperatures should be below freezing on Friday in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen said.
The low in Minneapolis will fall below freezing for 57 hours, starting at midmorning Wednesday. Green Bay, Wisconsin, will experience 52 hours of subfreezing weather, starting early Thursday.
Cities in the Southeast also will be cooler, Garrett said. The low on Friday night will be 30 degrees in Nashville and 40 in Atlanta, the weather service said.
