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Polar vortex will batter US with snow, wind and frigid temps this weekend
As if the coronavirus crisis wasn’t enough to bear, Mother Nature has more tricks up her sleeve as a frigid and windy polar vortex heads south from Canada Friday, impacting regions from Minnesota to Georgia and into the Northeast through Monday.
The vortex, originating from Canada’s polar regions, will start impacting the Northern Plains and the Upper Midwest early this weekend with temperatures of up to 25 degrees below the normal seasonal temperatures, which are in the high 60s, senior Accuweather meteorologist Tom Kines told The Post.
“The fact that it’s pushing so far south is what’s unusual about it,” Kines explained.
“It’s just Mother Nature not being nice. She was nice most of the winter because we didn’t have to deal with any snow or anything, maybe she’s getting even.”
To add insult to injury, a separate storm is moving across Pennsylvania and into the Northeast Friday that’ll open the door for the polar vortex and push those cold winds farther south.
That storm system is expected to bring up to a half-foot of snow in mountainous regions, like the Poconos in Pennsylvania, the Catskills in New York and the Green and White mountains in Vermont and New Hampshire, and will bring up to a half-inch of rain to lower elevations, like New York City.
As the vortex barrels directly toward the Northeast, locales as far south as Atlanta, Georgia, and Charlotte, North Carolina, will feel its “fringe impacts” throughout the weekend with unseasonably cool temps dipping into the 60s.
But “for the most part, the wild weather is going to be in the northeastern part of the country,” Kines said.
“Typically, this time of year we should be seeing temperatures well up into the 60s and in the afternoon, near 70,” the meteorologist said.
“This is exactly [the type of weather] you’d see during the winter months and it’s something that typically does not happen in May.”
From Minnesota to Maine, the vortex will bring temperatures on average 15 to 25 degrees lower than usual throughout the weekend and into Monday, but mostly on Saturday. Couple that with the wind chill, and the average temperatures will be about 25 to 35 degrees lower than normal, Kines said.
The low temperature in New York and Washington, DC, on Saturday is expected to plummet to about 35 degrees, but with the wind chill, it could feel as prickly as 25 degrees, according to Accuweather projections. In Chicago, Prairie State residents will see a low of 27 degrees Saturday, and with the wind chill, it’ll feel more like 17 degrees.
Luckily, moms hoping for some nice weather this weekend for Mother’s Day will feel a brief respite on Sunday.
“Mainly Saturday is the cold day of the weekend and temperatures will moderate on Sunday. Sunday by far is the best of the two weekend days and that’s the way it should be with Mother’s Day coming up,” Kines said.
“Not that people are going to be able to get out and about, at least you’d like to have some decent weather for Mother’s Day because she deserves it.”
The impact of the polar vortex will be felt into the Northeast through Monday, but by then, the mercury will be a little closer to normal with temperatures hovering around the 60s.
“Even temperatures in the 60s are going to feel good,” Kines said.
“Even though that’s still lower than what it should be, it’ll be a dramatic improvement.”
However, residents in Maine will have to wait a bit longer for a thaw. The polar vortex’s cold and Friday’s storm will hit the state simultaneously, bringing frigid temperatures, wind and snow throughout the weekend.
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