Federal Forecasters Issue Cold Weather Alerts Across Central US

The National Weather Service issued cold advisories, in light blue, and freeze warnings, in dark blue, for a number of states on Jan. 6, 2025. (NWS)NWS

Harsh cold from the Arctic is forecast to inundate much of central and eastern United States starting this week, following a heavy winter storm that dumped significant snowfall on the Mid-Atlantic.

The National Weather Service’s (NWS’s) six-to-10 day outlook, issued on Jan. 5, for temperatures shows that much of the eastern two-thirds of the United States will be below the historic average.

Cold weather advisories and freeze warnings were issued for much of the central Plains states, as well as in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Arkansas, according to a review of NWS’s map of advisories.

Kansas, which is under a cold weather advisory, saw significant snowfall during a winter storm that pummeled much of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states.

Winter storm warnings and advisories are still in effect for much of the Tennessee and Ohio River Valley areas, as well as much of the East Coast, from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.

The NWS warned in a social media post on Monday that “dangerously cold” air will sweep over snow and icy areas across places that were hit by the winter storm on Sunday and Monday.

Nighttime low temperatures are forecast to drop to the single digits or near zero this week across the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys and the Central Plains states, it said.

In Chicago, Sunday’s temperatures hovered in the teens, dropping to 11 below zero in International Falls, Minnesota, on the Canadian border.

The Northeastern states are more likely to experience several days of cold after a mostly mild start to winter, said NWS meteorologist Jon Palmer in Gray, Maine. The cold air will likely grip the eastern U.S. as far south as Georgia, with parts of the East Coast experiencing single-digit lows, Palmer said.

Meanwhile, as the polar vortex moves down from the high Arctic, temperatures in some parts of the central United States will be 12–25 degrees Fahrenheit colder than normal.

“This could lead to the coldest January for the U.S. since 2011,” AccuWeather Director of Forecast Operations Dan DePodwin said on Friday, noting that there could be up to a week or more of “temperatures that are well below historical average.”

The biggest drop below normal was likely to be centered over the Ohio Valley. Still, a significant and unusual cold will extend south to the Gulf Coast, said Danny Barandiaran, a meteorologist at the NWS’s Climate Prediction Center.

A hard freeze was even expected in Florida, he said.

“The wind chills are going to be brutal,” Woodwell Climate Research Institute climate scientist Jennifer Francis said.

After the winter storm, hundreds of flights and dozens of railways were canceled on Sunday and Monday. According to the tracking website FlightAware, more than 1,500 flights were canceled inside the United States, with numerous cancellations occurring around Washington.

Multiple states have declared a state of emergency over the winter weather.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who declared a state emergency over the weekend, said on Monday that state government buildings would be closed today due to poor conditions.

“We see far too many wrecks out there for people that do not have to be on the roads, so I want to ask: Stay inside,” Beshear told reporters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.