Near-record cold and dangerous wind chills forecast across the Northern Plains and Mid-South

Near-record temperatures and dangerous wind chills are forecast across the Northern Plains and Mid-South through the weekend. Arctic air is forecast to move southward from the Northern High Plains on Friday, December 12.

The cold air mass will then expand into the Central Plains and Ohio Valley by Saturday, December 13, and reach the Mid-South and Mid-Atlantic on Sunday, December 14.

Temperatures are expected to drop 20–30°C (68–86°F) across the region. Temperatures are expected to drop well below -17°C (0°F) across the Northern High Plains through the Ohio Valley. Lows below -7°C (20°F) are forecast far into the northern Gulf and the Mid-Atlantic.

The freezing cold will come along with strong winds of 32–48 km/h (20–35 mph), bringing dangerous wind chills of up to -34°C (-30°F) to the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest through the weekend starting Friday. Meanwhile, wind chills below -17°C (0°F) are forecast across much of the Mid-Mississippi Valley and into the Ohio Valley and the Central Appalachians.

Such wind chills can cause life-threatening hypothermia and frostbite to exposed skin. The National Weather Service (NWS) has advised citizens to carry a winter survival kit and take proper precautions to protect animals and livestock.

The freezing is the result of a shifting Polar Vortex that is driving waves of Arctic air into the U.S. this month, after it began to collapse in November. The collapse was the result of an early-season stratospheric warming that disrupted the vortex, leading to the chilling winter conditions across the northern USA this December.

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Rishav Kothari

Rishav Kothari is Editor-in-Chief of The Watchers, where he runs the newsroom and covers earthquakes, volcanoes, severe weather and space weather.

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