Parts of the US could see ‘extreme’ cold as Earth’s most frigid temperatures could arrive during the holiday season

Parts of the United States could see “extreme” cold as Earth’s most frigid temperatures could arrive during the holiday season.

Those in the Northeast and Midwest better bundle up because it’s going to be a cold December. The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center forecasts below normal temperatures in states from Montana to Maine. States as far south as Missouri will feel the cold.

Climatologist Judah Cohen, a visiting scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote on X last month, “Lots of hype about the #PolarVortex but is it deserved?

“Our AI subseasonal model, which I can credibly claim as world's best is predicting that the most expansive region of most likely extreme #cold on earth stretches from the Canadian Plains to the US East Coast 3rd week of Dec.”

The polar vortex is a large area of low pressure and cold air that surrounds the North and South Poles. During the winter, the polar vortex expands, sending cold air into the U.S.

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Some Americans are already bracing for lower temperatures, as record cold is “likely” in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic Thursday and Friday, according to the Weather Prediction Center.

“Record cold low temperatures (and cold high temperatures) are likely Thursday and Friday from the Corn Belt eastward to parts of the Mid-Atlantic,” the center said in an extended forecast discussion post on Monday.

Low temperatures of five to 20 degrees below zero are expected from the northern Plains through the Northeast on Friday, the center predicts.

The center said the next cold surge will “perhaps be of lesser magnitude this weekend.”

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There may even be some snow this week as a system carrying heavy rain over the Central Gulf Coast on Thursday moves north.

“The system in the Southeast early this weekend will lift out to sea by Sunday, but may still spread some light precipitation (rain/snow) on its northern side across the Mid-Atlantic and perhaps New England,” the center predicted.

Those in the Great Lakes region and the Pacific Northwest may also experience snowy weather.

“Lake effect snow will linger over the Great Lakes on Thursday then taper off on Friday,” the center said. “Several Pacific systems will push into western Canada with trailing rain/snow over [Washington/Oregon] and eastward to the Northern/Central Rockies through the period.”