Arctic storm drops temperatures on East Coast just before Christmas

While much of the country is currently experiencing above-average temperatures, forecasters expect an arctic blast this weekend, just before Christmas, to plunge temperatures on the East Coast.

According to the National Weather Service, an arctic air mass is expected to “drop daytime maximum temperatures to as much as 15 to 20 degrees below normal” in parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic on Saturday and Sunday.

Meanwhile, a clipper system will bring “periods of moderate to heavy snowfall and gusty winds to the northern Plains and Upper Midwest/Great Lakes” over the next few days, the weather service said.

Winter storm warnings have been issued for northern and eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota, where 3 to 6 inches of snow is expected through Saturday.

“In addition, very strong, gusty winds are expected over the northern Rockies and High Plains,” the weather service added. “This leads to snowdrifts and poor visibility as the snow either falls or remains on the ground.”

The system will move through the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes on Thursday, bringing moderate to locally heavy snowfall to portions of northern Wisconsin before moving east and bringing single-digit wind chills to some portions of New England.

Warming up on the way to Christmas

However, the cold snap will be relatively short-lived.

Above-average temperatures are expected to spread across much of the country by mid to late next week, according to the long-range forecast from the weather service’s Climate Prediction Center.

And aside from heavy rain in the Pacific Northwest, no major weather threats are forecast through December 24th.

Record number of holiday travelers expected

That’s good news for the record number of Americans expected to travel during the year-end holiday season.

AAA expects 119.3 million people to travel 50 miles or more from Saturday, December 21 to Wednesday, January 1 – surpassing the previous high set in 2019.

And AAA expects three million additional travelers this holiday season compared to last year.

“With Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday this year, we expect record-breaking travel numbers the weekend before and the weekend after the holiday,” Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel, said in a statement.