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| Bundle up in the Northeast. Over the next few days, it's gonna get COLD! |
The forecast for that big cold blast heading into New England this weekend has changed little.
Wind chill watches are up through the weekend in much of th region, including all of Vermont. Wind chills Friday night through Sunday could easily reach 40 below at times.
Some of the big cities in the Northeast like Boston and New York could see record lows.
This isn't the usual type of winter cold wave where the it's frigid, and the sky is clear at night with deep snow on the ground and what little heat is near us escapes into space.
In those usual situations, rural valleys tend to get extremely cold, while urban centers with their pavement, cars, heated homes, etc. stay a bit warmer.
This cold wave will consist of a bitter blast of very windy air slamming down from the Arctic. The cold air will be force fed into the cities, so it will get almost as cold there as surrounding areas.
New York City might have its first below zero reading in years. Boston could have a record low for the date on Saturday. If that happens it'll be the first record low in Boston during February since 1967.
(Again, this is because the wind will blast the cold air into Boston.)
In the normally coldest spots of northern New England and the Adirondacks, it will be absolutely frigid, but not as bad as it can get in the winter. However, the wind chills will make up for the lack of 40 below weather.
Still, quite a few of the cold spots could make it to 20 below or a little colder Saturday night.
By the way, high temperatures Saturday and Sunday afternoon won't make it above zero in some towns in the North Country
The rest of the discussion, which I wrote yesterday, is still accurate. It's next:
PREVIOUS DISCUSSION
Way back in 1816, the so-called "Year Without A Summer" brought frosts and snows that kept hitting the upper Midwest and New England durin the so-called warm part of the year.
However, even in that frigid summer, there managed to be a heat wave that sent temperatures briefly into the 90s before the chill returned.
The current Year Without a Winter is not as extremely warm as the summer of 1816 was cold, but you get the idea. And in this Kinda Year Without A Winter, we're about to get a bonafide true severe cold wave.
It won't last all that long, but you'll sure notice it. Especially since most of us are used to such a warm winter.
An area from Minnesota to the Northeast is going to get hit by cold, but northern New York, northern New England and southeastern Canada are going to take the brunt of this.
In fact, a lobe of the dreaded "polar vortex" is expected to sweep over northern New England Saturday night.
While temperatures will get below zero over the next few days from North Dakota to Maine, the deepest chill will hit Saturday through Sunday in the aforementioned path of the "polar vortex" lobe.
In Burlington, Vermont, the temperature has not gotten below zero yet this winter. That will change over the weekend.
Worse, the wind will blast hard out of the northwest Saturday through Sunday mornings. It's a sure bet wind chill warnings will fly Saturday into Sunday for a large area of the Northeast, especially New England.
The cold is coming in a couple waves. The first is entering the picture this Wednesday evening. It will be kind of cold in the Great Lakes and Northeast Thursday, but nothing special for mid-February. Temperatures will probably run five to ten degrees below normal for most areas Thursday.
Then a second, stronger cold front and little storm will come through New England Friday. It''ll drop light amounts of snow, but more importantly, it will introduce that polar vortex.
High temperatures Saturday in much of northern New England probably won't get above zero, and those screaming northwest winds will take the wind chill down to as low as 40 below.
Going on a Saturday night date with your lover Saturday night, ahead of Sunday's Valentine's Day?
Maybe you ought to stay home and cuddle instead. With temperatures in the single numbers and teens below zero, maybe 20 below in spots, combine with winds gusting to over 30 mph, YIKES!!!!
If you kiss your honey outside in that weather, your lips will freeze together. Just giving you that warning.
Sunday looks awfully cold, too, but at least the wind will die down and the sun will be out. By afternoon, it will be cold, in the single numbes and teens, but it really won't feel that bad.
It'll warm up dramatically Monday and Tuesday, with high temperatures possibly popping back above freezing in many areas hardest hit by this upcoming cold snap.
However, the forecast starting next Monday is extremely uncertain. The best I can do is tell you the weather pattern looks very, VERY changeable for the rest of February in New England.
Expect a wide variety of weather for the rest of the month.
But here's some bright news for you winter cold haters: We haven't gotten any real cold waves until now, and starting in late February, the power of winter cold waves starts to wane.
Even if we do get more Arctic outbreaks into March, the tendency will be to have them slowly get more and more lame.
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