Cold air rivaling that of the past 100 years for late December and early January will make it painful to be outdoors and may lead to damage in the central and the northeastern United States. AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures are projected to be below zero over much of the Northeast and well below zero in much of the Midwest. In the coming days, RealFeel temperatures 5 to 20 degrees below zero will be common. in the northern tier, RealFeel temperatures may dip as low as 30 to 40 degrees below zero.
Most low-temperature records from the northern and central Plains to the mid-Atlantic and New England are likely to remain intact. However, in terms of the level of cold, actual temperatures in many locations will be in the lower 5 percentile for all years on record for late December and early January, according to the National Weather Service. Standout years for record cold in the Northeast at this point in the season were in 1880-81 and 1917-18. In the Midwest, the years 1967-68 and 1973-74 left a mark with subzero F cold. READ MORE
