1:00 PM | An Arctic blast arrives tomorrow morning

Discussion

An extremely energetic Arctic front will roar through the region tomorrow morning, Friday the 13th, and it is likely to be accompanied by strong, and perhaps damaging, wind gusts of 40-50 mph, a burst of precipitation in the form of rain changing to snow showers, and a dramatic drop in temperatures. The time frame for this strong frontal passage here in the NYC metro region is mid-to-late morning hours of between 8 and 11AM. Winds will continue to gust past 40 mph in the afternoon as temperatures hold steady in the 30’s or even continue to drop at a slower pace than in the morning. This Arctic invasion will be even more of a problem upon its arrival just to our north and west in the higher elevations of northwestern NJ and northeastern PA where a quick coating of snow and a "flash freeze" may cause some serious travel problems. Even farther to the north and west, from central PA and central NY to the Ohio Valley and eastern Great Lakes, there will be a few hours of blizzard conditions late tonight during this polar plunge. The cold air will stick around here through the upcoming weekend and there is the possibility of temperatures bottoming out as low as the single digits late Sunday night/early Monday. Looking ahead, most of the next 7 days will be cold, but there will be a brief (modest) warm up on Tuesday followed by another blast of cold air for the second half of next week.