The South will be taking the polar plunge heading into the new year, with temperatures dropping below freezing and snow in the forecast.
The same storm that blasted the Plains with near hurricane-force winds and almost a foot of snow that created blizzard conditions is dropping south and east.
“This low has been pretty much a troublemaker, wherever it is across the northern Plains now, moving into the south,” said FOX Weather Meteorologist Kiyana Lewis. “This cooler air mass filters in behind it, and we’ll see a lot of areas, where typically around this time of the year would be associated with warmer weather – Florida being one of those areas, that we watch closely towards the end of the week. Look at these lows back into the thirties, low twenties.”
The cold pool of air takes residence in the Southeast into the weekend, with temperatures 10-20 degrees below average for this time of year. That cold air won’t be going anywhere fast.
“And we’re talking about some big-time cold that’s going to be moving in,” said FOX Weather Meteorologist Stephen Morgan. “We have this low, which we have seen, when we look at the cold air, a lot of times we have the South respond and rebound quickly. But this low has basically been meandering through the Plains, not moving much. And it’s essentially going to do the same thing in the South.”
New York City will be warmer than New Orleans for New Year’s preps.
Revelers flocking to the Sunshine State for the holiday will hardly find beach weather. Key West and Miami won’t make it to 70 degrees on New Year’s Day.
‘LOOKING A LITTLE COLD:’ COLD-STUNNED IGUANAS LITTER FLORIDA YARD
Low temperatures will plummet to freezing for much of the area into the weekend. Highs will struggle out of the 40s and 50s.
WHERE IN THE WORLD HAS IT NEVER SNOWED?
Some southern cities could even see snow. Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee, Huntsville in Alabama and as far south as Metro Atlanta in Georgia could see the flakes fly Friday night into Saturday.
“With this timing, the precip is looking to line up with the colder temps as it looks to come through with temps in the 28-32 degree range for north GA,” meteorologists at the National Weather Service office in Atlanta wrote in their forecast discussion. “Ultimately expecting a rain snow mix at this time for north GA with accumulations generally <0.5 in, but higher elevations could see up to 1 in, potentially.”
HOW COLD DOES IT HAVE TO BE TO SNOW?
The Nashville NWS office has a quarter-inch to an inch of snow forecast for in Middle Tennessee. Music City could see a dusting on grassy surfaces, which will also make for slippery bridges and overpasses.
Those with outdoor New Year’s Eve plans may want to start shopping for festive gloves and hats now.
Temperatures may not be fast to rebound as a reinforcing cold front looks to be poised to follow this week’s big chill.
“Another cold front looks to sweep through the area early next week, but model discrepancy is high at this time, so not much to talk about quite yet as the main focus is for Saturday,” NWS Atlanta meteorologists wrote.