We wasted no time this year, heading directly into the core of winter. The atmospheric pattern has allowed multiple waves of arctic air to flood south, into the eastern US. This has given us the coldest start to December in at least a decade.
You can see that visually on the image above, which shows the first 12 days of December compared to average. The Great Lakes into the Northeast are between 10 and 15 degrees below average, while the rest of the east is between 5 and 10 degrees below average. Keep in mind, this isn’t just one day, this is 12 days blended together. You have to go back to 2013 to find a December that was as cold as this across the US… and that year the cold was focused further west. So the Hudson Valley hasn’t seen this cold of a start to a December in many years.
The 2nd image shows that we still have some cold to get through in the coming days. Monday and Tuesday will see yet another arctic outbreak east of the Mississippi… with temperatures once again 10 to 20 degrees below average. Locally, in the Hudson Valley… we could see temperatures between 10 and 15 degrees below average, with the core of the cold found in the Ohio Valley. We’ll see highs in the 20s… overnight lows near 10°… and wind chills near 0°. Make sure you bundle up appropriately… as this cold can be dangerous if you’re exposed to the conditions for an extended period without proper protection from the cold.
Some milder air is on the way for the 2nd half of the week… we’ll talk more about that as we go through the week.