Jan 6 2018 11:00 AM EST
weather.com
Record Breaking Cold Possible to End Weekend
Many areas of the Northeast could see cold record temperatures this weekend.
Story Highlights
A reinforcing shot of Arctic air will send wind chills to dangerously cold levels in the Northeast through this weekend after Winter Storm Grayson departs the region.
Wind chill warnings and advisories have been issued by the National Weather Service in parts of the Great Lakes and East for the frigid temperatures.
Wind Chill Advisories and Warnings
Wind chill warnings are in effect until Sunday morning in parts of the Northeast, where wind chill values may drop to 45 degrees below zero, which can cause frostbite to exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.
Current Wind Chills
Bitterly Cold Pattern Continues, Then Some Relief
High temperatures in the single digits and teens will grip locations from the upper Midwest into the Great Lakes and Northeast through this weekend. Locations in New England near the Canadian border may not rise above zero degrees on Saturday.
Forecast Highs
Those same regions will face low temperatures that are below zero or in the single-digits above zero.
Much of northern New England will see lows in the double digits below zero.
(MAPS: 10-Day U.S. Forecast Highs/Lows)
Even worse are the wind chills which will dip into the teens, 20s and 30s below zero across the Northeast region at times into the weekend.
Forecast Morning Low Temperatures
Numerous daily cold temperature records will be threatened in the Northeast and Great Lakes this weekend.
Daily record lows within reach Sunday morning include (record to beat is shown): Boston (2 degrees below zero); Providence (1 degree below zero); New York City (4 degrees); Philadelphia (4 degrees).
If Philadelphia slips below zero on Sunday morning it would be the first subzero low temperature in the city since 1994.
New York City could record just its second subzero low temperature since 1994 on Sunday morning. The last time the Big Apple was below zero was on Valentine's Day in 2016
Some relief from the cold will arrive in the Midwest on Sunday as temperatures rise to near or above average in most locations. This return to near-average temperatures will sweep into the Northeast by early next week.
(MORE: January Thaw Ahead)
Bitter Cold Relief Ahead
Record Cold Recap
Coldest Wind Chills Recorded So Far
Wind chills 50 to 60 degrees below zero were recorded in the Dakotas and northern Minnesota Saturday through Monday. The coldest wind chill observed was 58 degrees below zero in Hettinger, North Dakota, on Sunday morning.
Coldest Temperature Recorded So Far
The coldest temperature in this Arctic outbreak so far is a reading of 45 degrees below zero in Embarrass, Minnesota, and Hettinger, North Dakota, on Sunday morning and Monday morning, respectively.
Friday, Jan. 5
Daily record low temperatures set on Friday include Flint, Michigan (10 degrees below zero), New Bern, North Carolina (5 degrees), Charlotte, North Carolina (8 degrees), Elizabeth City, North Carolina (11 degrees), Charleston, South Carolina (14 degrees) and Vicksburg, Mississippi (16 degrees).
Record low maximum temperatures were seen in the New York City area, where temperatures only got into the upper teens and lower 20s on Friday. A record low temperature of 9 degrees was also set at JFK airport on Friday morning.
Other locations that saw record cold high temperatures include Watertown, New York (2 degrees), Buffalo, New York (4 degrees), Flint, Michigan (4 degrees), Syracuse, New York, (9 degrees), Newark, New Jersey (18 degrees), Salisbury, Maryland (20 degrees), Bridgeport, Connecticut (22 degrees), Richmond, Virginia (25 degrees) and Elizabeth City, North Carolina (25 degrees)
Thursday, Jan. 4
Daily record low temperatures were set in Cape Girardeau, Missouri (6 degrees), Vicksburg, Mississippi (12 degrees), Charleston, South Carolina (17 degrees) and Apalachicola, Florida (26 degrees - tied).
In addition, Charleston, South Carolina also set a record cold high temperature of 37 degrees.
Wednesday, Jan. 3
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, set a new daily record low of 0 degrees early Wednesday morning, and Washington Dulles International Airport set a record low of 1 degree.
Tuesday, Jan. 2
Subzero temperatures were widespread across the northern and central Plains, as well as portions of the Midwest and New England.
Early Tuesday morning, a daily record low was set in Sioux City, Iowa, of 28 degrees below zero. This tied for the fifth-coldest temperature on record here and the coldest temperature since Jan. 21, 1970.
Additional daily record lows were set in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (23 degrees below zero), Pierre, South Dakota (21 degrees below zero), South Bend, Indiana (15 degrees below zero), Cincinnati, Ohio (7 degrees below zero), Quincy, Illinois (12 degrees below zero), Lynchburg, Virginia (3 degrees), and Jackson, Mississippi (14 degrees).
Record-cold high temperatures were also broken, including Columbus, Ohio (10 degrees), Dayton, Ohio (9 degrees), and Gainesville, Florida (44 degrees - tied).
Monday, Jan. 1
Subzero wind chills plunged all the way into parts of the South Monday morning.
Sioux City, Iowa, fell to minus 24 degrees late Sunday and early Monday, marking the coldest temperature in the city since Dec. 23, 1989. That low temperature also set daily record lows for Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 in Sioux City.
Daily record lows have been set in several other Midwest and East cities during the last few days.
New Year's Day morning daily record lows include: Watertown, New York (minus 31 degrees), Des Moines, Iowa (minus 19 degrees), Moline, Illinois (minus 19 degrees), Syracuse, New York (minus 15 degrees), Buffalo, New York (minus 4 degrees) and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (minus 2 degrees).
Daytime high temperatures on the New Year's holiday were in the single-digits above and below zero from the northern Plains and upper Midwest into the Great Lakes and northern New England.
Numerous cities saw record-cold high temperatures (current standing record-cold high for Jan. 1 and the year it was set is shown):
- New York City: 19 degrees (Old record: 24 in 1940)
- Chicago: 1 degree (Old record: 5 degrees 1969)
- Charleston, South Carolina: 34 degrees (Old record: 45 degrees 2001) - Also broke a record low
- Portland, Maine: 10 degrees (Old record: 13 degrees 1967) - Also broke a record low
Sunday, Dec. 31
Wausau, Wisconsin, set a new daily record-cold high temperature Sunday afternoon when it only topped out at minus 4 degrees. The previous record was minus 3 degrees from 1968.
Several daily record lows were set Sunday morning, including Huron, South Dakota (minus 27 degrees), Bangor, Maine (minus 24 degrees), Flint, Michigan (minus 11 degrees - tie), and Binghamton, New York (minus 3 degrees - tie).
The temperature for the ball drop at Times Square in New York City was nine degrees. That's the second coldest temperature on record for the event.
Saturday, Dec. 30
Minneapolis/St. Paul only managed a high of minus 6 degrees, which tied the record-cold high temperature for the date, originally set Dec. 30, 1976.
The high temperature in Fargo, North Dakota, Saturday was 15 degrees below zero. That's the coldest high temperature in the city since January 2004.
Glens Falls, New York, set a daily record-low temperature for the third day in a row by dipping to minus 21 degrees.
Friday, Dec. 29
Daily record lows were set for the second day in a row Friday in Glens Falls, New York (minus 19), Watertown, New York (minus 17), and Augusta, Maine (minus 15), as well as New York's JFK and LaGuardia airports (both 12 degrees).
Also for the second day in a row, both JFK (23) and LaGuardia (22) set daily record-cold high temperatures Friday. Worcester, Massachusetts, only managed to rise to 8 degrees Friday, which was also a daily record-cold high for Dec. 29.
Thursday, Dec. 28
At least 24 daily record lows were tied or broken Thursday.
Flint, Michigan, set an all-time December record-low temperature of 18 degrees below zero Thursday morning. Records in that location date back to 1921.
Alpena, Michigan, had its coldest morning low since Feb. 27, 2015 (minus 19). It was its second-coldest December temperature on record, behind only a minus-27-degree low on Dec. 29, 1933.
Watertown, New York, fell to minus 32 Thursday morning, which shattered its daily record for Dec. 28 of minus 23.
Both Atlantic City, New Jersey (9), and Toledo, Ohio (minus 8), had their coldest December lows Thursday in 13 years. Similarly, Buffalo, New York, dipped below zero for the first time in December since 2004.
Daily record-cold high temperatures were tied or set Thursday in 29 locations from the Midwest to the South and East, including Augusta, Maine (3), Syracuse, New York (8), Boston (12), New York's JFK Airport (19) and Baltimore (24).
Bangor, Maine, had its first daytime high below zero in almost four years.
Some ski resorts even had to close lifts Thursday due to the dangerous cold and wind chills.
Wednesday, Dec. 27
Wednesday morning, International Falls, Minnesota, set a new daily record low when temperatures plummeted to minus 36; the previous record was minus 32. It was even colder in Embarrass, Minnesota, and Cotton, Minnesota, where morning lows were 40 below zero and minus 41, respectively.
Detroit tied its daily record low of 4 below zero on Wednesday, and Alpena, Michigan, also tied its daily record low of minus 16. Additional daily record lows were set in Lincoln, Nebraska (17 below zero), and Norfolk, Nebraska (minus 15).
Amazingly, the two-day stretch after Christmas was the coldest two-day stretch in almost 22 years at both Grand Island and Hastings, Nebraska, according to the National Weather Service.
Cold Longevity
The longevity of this cold outbreak has been notable in some cities.
Buffalo and Watertown, New York, clinched their coldest final week for any year on record (Dec. 25-31).
New York City has not seen a high temperature above 32 degrees since Christmas Day. This cold outbreak could rank among the top five on record in the Big Apple for the most number of days in a row 32 degrees or lower.
In Boston, Tuesday marked the record-tying seventh day in a row with temperatures remaining at or below 20 degrees. The previous record for consecutive days the city has seen temperatures stay below 20 degrees was set Dec. 29, 1917, to Jan. 4, 1918.
Chicago may also tie the record for consecutive days with temperatures remaining below 20 degrees. The current record is 12 days, set in 1936 and 1895, which will likely be reached on Saturday.
MORE FROM WEATHER.COM: Arctic Chill Grips the Nation
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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