Timing the Coming Arctic Cold

New information continues to come in on the cold outbreak set to roll in during the middle of January. The cold will first settle southward over the West during the latter part of this week into the weekend. Portions of California may experience their lowest temperatures of the season so far with a hard freeze. Temperatures are likely to moderate slowly later next week in the West.

It is possible the string of cold nights this weekend into the first part of next week rivals that of the past several decades in part of the Southwest. Phoenix, Ariz., could rival its four consecutive dates with temperature readings of 32 degrees or lower set most recently during late December of 1988. Average low temperatures this time of the year for the city are around 45 degrees.

A three-day stretch of 32-degree or lower readings occurred spanning Dec. 11, 2010, through Jan. 2, 2011, with lows of 32, 30 and 32 degrees respectively. Farther east, arctic air will spill into the northern Plains this weekend from central Canada and will progress slowly eastward in stages through next week.

Multiple storms could ride up from the Gulf of Mexico along the edge of the cold air slowly advancing over the Midwest and lower Mississippi Valley. It is possible that it will take a larger storm to finally drive the cold air to the coastal Northeast during the middle of next week.