Blast of cold air to wipe away summerlike warmth across central, eastern US
A blast of cold air is expected to advance across the country and drop temperatures by as much as 40 degrees Fahrenheit from the Midwest to the Northeast.
AccuWeather meteorologists are urging people to get their fill of warm weather through the end of the week as colder air is expected to advance across the country and drop temperatures by as much as 40 degrees Fahrenheit from the Midwest to the Northeast. The transition to colder conditions will start this weekend and continue into next week and some areas of the Midwest may even receive accumulating snow.
The temperature plunge will progress slowly from west to east in the wake of a potent storm system that is poised to bring areas of rain and severe weather to the Central states into this weekend.
Widespread highs in the 70s and 80s F this week will be replaced by highs in the 50s and 60s, with some areas of the Upper Midwest likely to struggle to come out of the 30s this weekend to early next week.
For example, following a high in the lower 80s on Friday, temperatures in Minneapolis may be no higher than the 40s on Saturday and may struggle to reach the 40-degree mark on Sunday. Temperatures will likely surpass 80 degrees in Chicago on Saturday but will be rolled back to the upper 50s by Sunday morning, and may only recover by a few degrees on Sunday afternoon.
Stiff winds will accompany the first 12-24 hours of the change to colder weather. As a result, AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures will end up being 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit lower than the actual temperature, especially after the sun sets.
Accompanying the colder air will be an area of accumulating snow that develops in northern portions of Michigan and Iowa and a large part of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Some locations in this zone could have a few inches of wet snow on the ground about 48 hours after temperatures were in the 80s.
"The best chance of 1 to several inches of accumulating snow over the Upper Midwest will be on non-paved and elevated surfaces," AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex DaSilva said.
It may take until Monday or Tuesday before the colder air settles across the East Coast.
The leading edge of the colder air will build west of the Appalachians on Sunday afternoon and evening and then push across the Appalachians later Sunday night and Monday.
Following a high in the 70s on Saturday and Sunday, temperatures in State College, Pennsylvania, may hover in the 50s much of the day on Monday and are likely to stay in the 40s on Tuesday. Factoring in the breeze and cloudy intervals, RealFeel Temperatures may dip to near freezing at times.
Meanwhile, along the Interstate 95 corridor, the change to cooler conditions will be much less dramatic in most areas as a storm with some rain from the Southeast states and a breeze from the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday will hack away at highs in the 80s to end the week.
Highs will be in the 60s to near 70 throughout the weekend and on Monday in New York City. A cold front approaching from the Midwest will be responsible for showers from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night following Saturday's coastal storm. Forecasters say it may take until Monday night and Tuesday for the chilly air to take hold. Temperatures on Monday in the Big Apple may struggle to rise above the 50s, with RealFeel Temperatures in the 40s much of the day, despite a little sun.
The breeze from the Atlantic will allow cooler air to take hold this weekend in Boston and in much of eastern New England. Following highs in the 80s and 90s in parts of New England from Thursday and Friday, highs will be mainly in the 50s along the coast from the weekend to Tuesday.
Snowflakes will also visit parts of Northeast as chilly air takes hold
Snowflakes may fly as far south as the central Appalachians starting on Monday, but accumulating snow, with the chance of a few inches, is most likely over the Upper Midwest, according to AccuWeather Senior Snow Warning Meteorologist Brian Wimer.
"In order for accumulating snow to occur over the ridges in the central Appalachians, winds will need to be more out of the northwest, rather than the west, to allow the maximum amount of cold air and Great Lakes moisture," Wimer said. However, there is a chance that winds swing around enough from Monday night to Tuesday night to allow a touch of accumulating snow over non-paved areas of the ridges and plateaus in the central and northern Appalachians.
Freezing conditions are in store for portions of the northern Plains and the Upper Midwest starting Sunday night and continuing on Monday night.
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Farther to the south and east, in order for temperatures to dip to the freezing mark, winds will need to drop off in order for frost to form. This may be difficult to accomplish around the Great Lakes, but it will be possible at the local level in the normally cold spots around the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys from Monday night to Tuesday night.
In portions of the central Appalachians, the Piedmont areas, the mid-Atlantic and New England, scattered frost is a possibility, but not a certainty, from Tuesday night to Wednesday night if breezes drop off and the sky remains clear.
This spring's frost/freeze threat may extend past the historical average last frost date in some locations of the Midwest and the East, as AccuWeather's long-range forecasting team has warned about since the start of the winter.
"Multiple waves of chilly air are in store for the Midwest, Northeast and part of the Southeast region into early May, which will cause temperatures to trend up and down," AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok. "Since the persistent area of high pressure along the southern Atlantic coast is likely to be hacked down, warmups, like the long-duration one from this week, will be non-existent. Any warmups into early May will be limited to just ahead of new surges of chilly air."
Garden center operators and those who have purchased warm-season flowers and vegetable plants may need to protect their investment on a few occasions this spring.
Lower temperatures moving forward over the next couple of weeks may help reduce the brush fire threat a bit, but where soaking rain does not occur on a regular basis, gusty winds can still quickly fan any smoldering grass and leaves.
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