Frigid air will invade the Midwest and East this week behind a couple of clippers. Temperatures will fall into the single digits or below zero all the way to New York City.

Dangerous Cold, Near Blizzard Conditions for Minneapolis.

More snow forecast for Chicago and Detroit.

More snow accompanies arctic blasts.

More messy weather for Boston.

Santa Ana winds for Southern California.

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Arctic air bottled up over Alaska will soon be unleashed over the Midwest and East. The cold air will arrive in two waves this week. The second surge threatens to be the harshest and farthest reaching.

The first shot of arctic air will plunge into the northern Plains behind a clipper system today. The bitterly cold air will spread across the Midwest and Deep South on Tuesday and the Northeast on Wednesday.

The second blast of cold will come from even deeper in the arctic. It will follow close behind the first, spreading into the northern Plains on Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, the coldest air of the season will spread across the Midwest and the East.

Gusty, northwest winds will create dangerously cold AccuWeather AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures with both arctic blasts.

RealFeel® temperatures by tonight will plummet to below minus 30° in the northern Plains, including in Fargo, International Falls and Duluth. This extreme cold poses a serious danger to people and pets. On top of the threat of hypothermia, frostbite could set in in only a matter of minutes.

How cold the air will feel on Monday may pale in comparison to Wednesday's RealFeel® temperatures in the northern Plains, when the second surge of arctic air arrives.

Chicago will have highs in the single digits by Thursday and lows plunging below zero by the weekend.

That latter blast of arctic air will hit the East late in the week and could hold high temperatures into the teens in New York City. Lows may dip below zero at night, a feat not achieved in the city since Jan. 19, 1994.

Join the forum on the upcoming cold

Computer models show just how cold the weather will be.

How the arctic blast will impact cities of the Midwest and Northeast

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Another clipper system will spread more snow across Chicago and Detroit into Tuesday after a winter storm dropped record snow in these areas on Saturday.

An Alberta clipper system will dive into the Midwest today, spreading snow across the region. The Winter Weather Center states 3 to 6 inches of powdery snow will fall in a corridor across the Midwest, including Minneapolis and Chicago, by Tuesday morning.

Blustery winds on the back side of the clipper will significantly blow and drift the fluffy snow. This will create blizzard conditions across parts of the eastern Dakotas, Minnesota and northern Iowa today. The blowing snow will cause treacherous travel for motorists by dangerously reducing the visibility.

Snow will reach Detroit and Cleveland tonight. While the heaviest snow with the clipper is expected to stay north of Cleveland, 1 to 3 inches can be expected.

Most of the snow in Chicago will fall during the overnight hours, limiting the number of potential flight delays. The snow could still be underway in Detroit at the start of Tuesday, likely impacting morning commuters and airline passengers.

The clipper will merge with another system developing off the Southeast coast on Tuesday. Snow threatens to graze eastern New England at night, but Atlantic Canada will likely bear the brunt of the combined storms.

Residents along the Northeast's Interstate 95 corridor should continue to monitor the weather for Tuesday. More snow will spread over the region if the systems come together quicker than currently forecast.

Latest snowfall map.

The clipper has prompted blizzard warnings.

Clipper bringing travel problems to Bismarck, Fargo and Minneapolis

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Yet another clipper will accompany the second surge of arctic air later in the week. This system will likely follow the first clipper's path through the northern Plains and Midwest but then may take a track farther south through the Northeast.

Following much the same path through the Midwest as the first clipper this week, the second one is expected to bring snow to Minneapolis late Tuesday night, potentially creating a mess for the morning commute on Wednesday before departing.

The quickly moving storm is then expected to spread snow farther east into Chicago and Detroit on Wednesday. Keep checking back with AccuWeather.com for a release on expected snowfall for these areas with this second system.

In the Northeast, the prospect of snow in Philadelphia and New York City will increase if this second clipper does takes a different path farther south through the Northeast on Thursday.

Like the first clipper this week, gusty winds will accompany the second one and create blowing and drifting snow with dangerously low visibility for motorists.

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The harshest of the cold will begin to ease next weekend as an arctic dome of high pressure exits the East Coast. A southerly flow around the back side of the high will help temperatures to moderate some across the Midwest and East by next weekend.

Meanwhile, a third clipper system in the series could impact parts of the Midwest and Northeast by late next weekend and early next week. The path of this system is still very uncertain. However, it is possible that parts of the Midwest and Northeast could have snow showers in the Sunday-Monday time-frame.

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