Pacific Northwest Weather 2016

Coldest Arctic Outbreak in Midwest Since the 1990s; East, South to Shiver Also

COLDEST Arctic Outbreak in TWO DECADES!

The words "January" and "cold" are forever linked in the U.S. No marketing campaigns needed. Everybody other than those in, say, the Florida Keys, Arizona, or Hawaii understands.

Low temperature records in one of the nation's coldest month in the U.S., particularly in the Midwest, are harder to crack. It's a pretty, uh, low bar, so to speak.

That said, one of coldest Arctic outbreaks in the past two decades is ready to plunge into the nation's Midwest, while also sweeping its shivering air into the East and South. Let's get to the bitter forecast details.
This Weekend: Cold Plunge Arrives

Sunday AM Lows

Sunday Highs

The bitter cold reinforcement arrives this weekend.

A low pressure system producing blizzard conditions in parts of North Dakota and northwest Minnesota will open the door to another bitter cold invasion from Canada.

Highs Saturday will remain below zero in much of North Dakota, northwest Minnesota, and northeast Montana.

Sunday morning lows will plunge into the 30s below zero in the coldest spots of northern Minnesota, and the 20s below zero over much of North Dakota and Minnesota, including Minneapolis/St. Paul. Subzero lows are possible as far south as parts of Iowa, eastern Nebraska, and perhaps northwest Illinois.

Daytime high temperatures Sunday will likely remain below zero from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to eastern Montana. Coupled with strong winds behind an Ohio Valley winter storm, dangerous wind chills in the -50s and -60s are possible from northern Iowa and Minnesota into the Dakotas and eastern Montana.

The wild card playoff game at Green Bay's Lambeau Field Sunday afternoon will rank among the coldest on record, there, perhaps colder than the Jan. 20, 2008 NFC Championship Game, which had a game time temperature of -4 degrees.

(MORE: One of NFL's Worst Weather Cities)

Farther south, highs will struggle to top the teens in the mid-Mississippi Valley, including St. Louis and Kansas City.

The heart of this cold outbreak, however, will be felt Monday and Tuesday.
Monday/Tuesday: Coldest in Two Decades

Monday AM Lows

Monday Highs

The bitter cold spreads south and east and reaches its peak Monday and Tuesday from the Plains to the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.

Morning lows Monday may flirt with the 30s below zero over much of North Dakota, Minnesota, even northeast Iowa and western Wisconsin.

Subzero cold will plunge as far south as the Ozarks and Ohio Valley, including Lexington, Ky. and Springfield, Mo. Daily record lows are possible in at least two dozen cities from Texas to the Midwest including Minneapolis/St. Paul, Kansas City, and Austin, Texas.

Monday's highs, if you want to call them that, may not get to 10 degrees below zero as far south as Champaign, Ill., including Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul.

In fact, Monday's high in Chicago may threaten the all-time record coldest daily high temperature in the Windy City, -11 degrees on Jan. 18, 1994 and Christmas Eve 1983.

Highs may struggle to rise above zero Monday in Cincinnati, which would be the first time this has happened there since Jan. 20, 1985. Dating to 1872, the Queen City has only had five days where highs did not reach zero degrees.

With strong low pressure in Quebec and high pressure centered over the Plains, this bitter cold air will be accompanied by brisk west to northwest winds from 15-25 mph, sending wind chills into the -50s or even -60s in some areas from Ohio to North Dakota. Any exposed skin would suffer frostbite in 5-10 minutes in these conditions!

(MORE: Wind chill chart/frostbite danger)

Tuesday AM Lows

Tuesday Highs

Tuesday morning lows will again plummet into the 20s below zero over much of the Upper Mississippi Valley, 10s below zero in much of the western Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, and below zero as far south as the southern Appalachians. Over 60 daily record lows may fall by the wayside Tuesday from the Deep South to the Northeast and Midwest.

Particularly notable will be the cold in the Ohio Valley Tuesday morning. For example, Toledo, Ohio may have its coldest morning in almost 20 years (Jan. 18-19, 1994), and may be within five degrees of its all-time record of -20 set on Jan. 21, 1984.

Tuesday's highs won't be quite as bitter cold in the Upper Midwest, but may be stuck below zero in parts of the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. Furthermore, brisk west winds will still be in play over the Great Lakes, sending wind chills in the 30s, 40s, even 50s below zero from western New York to northern Minnesota.

In records dating to 1874, Detroit has only had five calendar days during which the daytime high has failed to reach zero, the last of which was their all-time coldest daily high, -4 degrees on Jan. 19, 1994. Tuesday's high in the Motor City may threaten that all-time record!

Jan. 19, 1994 was also the last time a daily high in Cleveland remained in subzero territory, the same year Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field), home of baseball's Cleveland Indians, opened.

Also shivering on Tuesday will be the Northeast, where single-digit highs are expected over much of the interior Northeast, and teens will anchor over the I-95 corridor including Boston, New York, Philly, and, perhaps,Washington, D.C.
Any Relief?

While certainly a miserable cold air outbreak, we have relief in store.

Due to a lack of blocking upper atmospheric high pressure over the north Atlantic Ocean near Greenland, this bitter cold air will quickly sweep out by mid-late next week.

By Wednesday, subzero high temperatures will be virtually gone from the Lower 48 States. Thursday, highs in the 20s or 30s in much of the Great Lakes and Northeast will seem downright balmy compared to earlier in the week.

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