The FOX Forecast Center is tracking an artist blast that has the potential to be the most significant winter cool down for the northern tier of the country since December.
A quick-moving storm system will dump a few inches of snow through the Great Lakes but starting on Saturday, the bottom of the bucket will seemingly plummet on the thermometer with temperatures at least 20 degrees below average for much of the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest.
When the actual temperature is combined with wind chills, the feels-like temperatures are expected to reach dangerous values between 20 and 30 degrees below zero.
Exposure to below-zero wind chills can lead to frostbite that starts within minutes, and in the heart of the weekend’s arctic blast zone, the timing for the onslaught of symptoms may even be less than 60 seconds.
“It’s going to be some deep cold that’s going to be settling in through the Central Plains. And just to give you an example of, so this is Saturday morning, we’re looking at Bismarck, six below zero. That’s your forecasted low. That is not your windchill, that’s the air temperature,” said FOX Weather meteorologist Marissa Torres.
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Unlike December’s record cold blast that made it all the way to Florida, the latest intrusion of cold air will be limited on how far it sinks to the south.
As the weekend progresses and the start of the final workdays of January begins, cold air is expected to sink into North Texas and the Ohio Valley but remain rather to the northern tier of the country, thanks in part to a ridge of high pressure over the Southeast.
Bismark, North Dakota is expected to fall below zero on Friday and may not see a temperature in the single digits again until Tuesday.
Many communities in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska may face a similar fate with temperatures that will hover in dangerously cold territory.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center believes the cold air will not significantly impact the Southeast, and the end of January may actually finish slightly above average compared to climatological norms.
So far, no watches or advisories have been issued by the National Weather Service, but a Wind Chill Advisory and a Wind Chill Warning may have to be hoisted for counties in the Upper Midwest and Plains as the region gets closer to the impactful event.