Cold, blustery weather to spread over northeastern US through Saturday
What was originally going to be a walk in the park for a man and his best dog friend was anything but as they both needed to be rescued from frozen water.
After blasting the northern Plains and the rest of the central United States, Arctic air will revive winter in the Northeast to start the weekend.
Overall, temperatures will be 15-25 degrees Fahrenheit higher in the core of this blast compared to the polar invasion from late January.
The worst conditions were felt over the North Central states during Thursday and Friday.
On Thursday morning, AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures ranged from minus 50 to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit from Montana to the Dakotas. Actual temperatures in this same zone ranged from minus 40 to minus 5. Subzero RealFeel Temperatures dipped as far south as the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.
The core of the frigid air will undergo significant moderation as it spills toward the Gulf coast and across the Appalachians and East Coast. A lack of snowcover will assist with the moderation.
However, following mild conditions in the Northeast and record-challenging warmth in the Southeast, people will be in for a shock when they head out the door on Saturday.
From the highest point this past week to the lowest point this weekend, temperatures will plunge 25-50 degrees.
AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures will be even lower as gusty winds whip through the Northeast. The strongest winds will be across eastern New York and New England, where tree damage and sporadic power outages can occur.
Across the central Appalachians, the winds will not be nearly as strong as what whipped through on Friday and Friday night.
WJAC-TV reported that one person died and another was injured after a shed collapsed on top of them amid gusty winds in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Friday morning.
Download the free AccuWeather app to see how cold it will get at your location.
"The return of cold air and the way it spreads out and becomes wedged in part of the Northeast due to progressively stronger areas of high pressure may pave the way for significant ice and snow in the coming weeks," according to AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok.
This can unfold as storms from the Pacific continue to roll eastward through much of the rest of February.
"Some storms may still manage to cut northward into the cold air over the Midwest, while others may turn more to the east and bring a chance of snow to part of the mid-Atlantic and southeastern New England where little has occurred thus far," Pastelok said.
The air will not be as cold over the Midwest and Northeast on Sunday. However, a weak storm is forecast to spread a swath of snow eastward from the Midwest on Sunday to part of the Northeast during Sunday night and Monday.
Few things reflect the power of nature and weather like avalanches. This week host, Regina Miller talks to Mark Staples, director of the Utah Avalanche Center, and Dan Burnett, Group Mission coordinator for the Summit County Rescue Group in Breckenridge, Colorado. They discuss recent deaths on the slopes, the weather situations that can contribute to an avalanche, the dangers of human interaction, and how best to survive.
