Season’s First Winter Storm Named

As Thanksgiving approaches, a blast of cold air will sweep across the eastern U.S. leaving millions shivering. As temperatures plunge quickly in the Rockies and High Plains, the cold air will continue its trek south and east the rest of the week.

Timing Of The Cold

• Now Through Wednesday: The colder air will sweep into the Midwest, the lower Mississippi Valley and into the heart of Texas.
• Thanksgiving Day: By Thursday, this cold weather will extend across nearly the entire eastern half of the U.S., from New York to the southern Appalachians. It will also still be in place from Texas and Louisiana to the Midwest and Northern Plains.

Cold Highlights

On Thanksgiving Day, highs won't rise out of the 30s from the Upper Midwest through the Great Lakes and the interior Northeast. Some areas in the far northern tier from northeast Montana to Upper Michigan won't rise out of the 20s.

Meanwhile in the South, highs will hold in the 50s from Oklahoma and parts of northern Texas into the Tennessee Valley, Carolinas and southeast Virginia.

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(MORE: Your Thanksgiving Travel Forecast)

If there's one bit of comfort with this cold plunge, we're not expecting it to be as cold as the outbreak a few weeks ago that tied or set almost 100 daily records.

Friday morning, frost and freeze conditions are possible into parts of the Deep South, including Atlanta and Memphis. Forties for lows can be expected along the Gulf Coast from Houston to New Orleans to Panama City, Florida.

The Northern Plains and upper Midwest will see lows in the teens, 20s will keep the Central Plains, rest of the Midwest and most of the interior Northeast shivering.

However, winds will make these temperatures feel even colder, with wind chill temperatures in the single digits, teens and 20s in the Plains, Midwest and parts of the Northeast.

How Long Could It Last?

The longer-range forecast remains a bit uncertain, but the latest computer models suggest another surge of arctic air could plunge out of western Canada into the Rockies and Plains the weekend after Thanksgiving, Nov. 29-30.

Outside of the upper Midwest, much of the rest of the country will begin to warm up after the 3rd of December, at least temporarily.

(MORE: Your Winter Outlook)

Why Is This Happening?

A deep trough (southward plunge) in the jet stream is expected to dip into the eastern U.S. With this trough comes a shift in the wind direction, where the downward edge of the trough brings strong northerly winds, dragging in cold air from the North.

This is a classic setup for cold winter weather. With lingering warm temperatures in the South and increasingly colder temperatures in the North, this temperature gradient strengthens in the winter, making the jet stream stronger.

Jet stream patterns like this shift around often, and are a big controller of weather in the U.S., so while days of cold weather are expected for many, eventually the pattern shift will bring some relief.

(MORE: How The Polar Vortex May Affect Winter)

Miriam Guthrie graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with an undergraduate degree in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and is now a meteorology intern with weather.com while working toward her master’s.