Cold turkey? Arctic blast to chill much of US after Thanksgiving

The entire eastern half of the nation is forecast to see below-average temperatures (in blue) during the first several days of December.

Bundle up and hunker down: It's about to get cold − very cold.

Shockingly cold air funneled directly from the Arctic will be making an unwelcome appearance across nearly the entire eastern half of the country this weekend and into early next week, forecasters said on Monday, and the cold may stick around for a while.

It's the first significant Arctic outbreak of the season and it will arrive in the northern Rockies and northern Plains on Thanksgiving and Friday, the National Weather Service said. The cold will then advance farther south and east through much of the Plains and Midwest this weekend.

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How cold? By Saturday morning, about 196 million Americans will be waking up to below-freezing temperatures, according to Weather.com.

Overall, temperatures by the weekend in many locations will be more typical of mid-January, the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

How cold will it get? Could any records be broken?

Northern regions of the East, including the Great Lakes, Northeast and Ohio Valley, may struggle to reach freezing for daytime highs, Cory Baggett, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center, told USA TODAY on Monday. Overnight lows could fall to the teens, and wind chill values will make the apparent temperatures feel colder.

"Farther south, we are concerned about freezing overnight low temperatures reaching the Gulf Coast and northern portions of Florida, where citrus crops may be vulnerable," he said. "Despite anomalously cold temperatures, we are currently not expecting widespread record-breaking cold temperatures. That said, this will likely be the coldest air of the season thus far."

How long will this unusual cold last?

It appears that the coldest temperatures for the eastern third of the Lower 48 will be this weekend and early next week, but below-normal temperatures are likely to persist at least through the Dec. 3-9 period, especially for the Mid-Atlantic states, Baggett told USA TODAY.

Will there be snow?

Other than lake-effect snow near the Great Lakes, which could be prodigious, the overall pattern in the East is a dry one through much of early December as a dry, northwesterly flow is anticipated, Baggett said.

The lake-effect snow could be newsworthy: AccuWeather meteorologist Paul Pastelok told USA TODAY that western New York could be looking at a long-duration lake-effect snow event and feet of snow that could shut down roads and could lead to airport delays.

Where will it be warm and dry?

While the East shivers, the West will enjoy a slow warming and drying trend after the recent assault of bomb cyclones and atmospheric rivers, Pastelok said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cold turkey? Arctic blast to chill much of US after Thanksgiving