New England's cold weather persists with influx of biting Arctic air
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A shot of Arctic cold will descend into the middle part of the country throughout the week, with some of that cold air reaching New England.
Pivotal Weather
Where is all this cold really coming from?
Many news outlets are quick to label these shots of cold air as the polar vortex, but these frigid conditions are actually unrelated to the vortex - the swirling winds high above the Arctic. Instead, a very strong upper-level low is responsible for the bitter cold air we're experiencing now. Essentially, this is a powerful wind storm in the middle level of our atmosphere that doesn't produce precipitable weather like snow, but drives cold air.
The low is helping fuel strong surface high pressure, reaching over 1,050 millibars. High pressure is falling air and it's pulling down Arctic air from the back side of the upper-level storm, slinging this exceptionally cold, dry air across broad areas of the US as it moves.
An upper-level low, in purple, is fueling a surface high pressure to deliver arctic air through the Lower 48 this week.
Pivotal Weather
The jet stream is digging south through the core of the country, which pulls the Arctic air to the south and southeast, leaving places like Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, and even Dallas, with temperatures plunging 20 to 40 degrees below average.
Meanwhile, as the jet stream bends toward New England, it's helping keep our region protected from the deepest cold.
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The jet stream digs south through the middle part of the country, but will stay close enough to New England to avoid the deepest cold from entering the region.
Boston Globe
As I mentioned, the cold air we're experiencing is not the actual polar vortex, which right now looks healthy and intact. Remember, the polar vortex is very high up in the atmosphere, where it's usually neatly contained. Occasionally, a portion of the polar vortex will break off and push frigid air into the Lower 48 during the winter, but that is not the case this week.
The polar vortex can be seen contained in the higher atmosphere over Northern Canada and Greenland.
WeatherBell
What can New England expect?
With the fringe of the cold air creeping into New England, temperatures will stay mostly in the 20s this week with the best chance to get back near freezing on Friday. Overnight lows will likely stick to the low to mid-teens during this stretch. The good news is that the wind will relax as the week goes on as Dave mentioned in his forecast today - which will help take that added bite out of the air.
You can keep track of the cold throughout the next few days below.
It'll be a below-average cold week across New England with morning temperatures in the single digits and teens while slowly building marginally warmer throughout the week.
Boston Globe
As of now, it looks we will have to wait until the weekend before temperatures finally break above freezing across parts of Southern New England, including Boston. We could see highs in the mid- to upper 30s on Saturday and Sunday. After that, it looks like a bit of a warmup is in store.
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