The Arctic blast hammering the Midwest and Northeast is about to completely flip, bringing blizzard-like conditions to the West in just days.
The National Weather Service (NWS) released a forecast map for next week, predicting temperatures will dramatically drop across more than 10 states, including California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming.
At the same time, the thermometer will rise in the East, South, and Midwest, where early-season snowstorms and freezing conditions impacted more than 150 million Americans this week.
The new NWS forecast revealed that this sudden flip will start as early as Sunday and completely shift November’s winter blast by Tuesday, November 18.
In Southern California, Southern Nevada, and most of Arizona, there’s a 60 percent chance temperatures will sharply drop below their normal averages for mid-November, which typically sits between 58 and 64 degrees Fahrenheit.
Meteorologists at AccuWeather also warned that this Arctic shift could bring heavy snow to parts of California as soon as Thursday.
‘Temperatures are expected to drop sharply over the Sierra Nevada, allowing snow to accumulate quickly above the passes in northern areas,’ the AccuWeather team warned in a statement.
Areas including Lake Tahoe, Donner Pass, and the Sierra Nevada mountain range could all see at least three inches of snowfall, with higher elevations getting up to two feet by Thursday night.
The National Weather Service has predicted a major temperature shift, with the West Coast set for a major drop, and freezing regions in the east becoming warmer than normal
Areas in Illinois (Pictured) were just slammed by up to a foot of snow during an unusual early season storm
The sudden shift west in this week’s Arctic blast is being driven by a large wave (a trough) in the jet stream that naturally flows over the US from west to east, pushing the cold air toward the Southwest.
Meanwhile, a dome of warmer high pressure is expected to build in the Midwest and East, flipping the weather from freezing to mild like a seesaw in just days.
Wild temperature swings in the Southwest are a common occurrence as the region sits at the jet stream’s southern edge, with different weather systems sending lows into the mid-40s or as high as the upper 70s during this time of year.
Illinois and Indiana have a 50 to 60 percent chance of seeing temperatures warm beyond their normal November average of 44 degrees, just days after a major storm crippled travel and blanketed some areas with up to 12 inches of snow.
Tuesday morning, millions of Americans were still under official freeze warnings in the Southeast, with states including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas all bracing for temperatures in the high 20s.
Atlanta’s record low for Tuesday is 26 degrees, and the meteorologists predicted it could reach around this point, meaning residents may need to drip their faucets to prevent damaged pipes.
Even parts of Florida could see record lows, with cities as far south as Orlando and Tampa potentially tying lows of 39 and 40 degrees, respectively.
Floridians have already seen local iguanas start to fall out of trees, paralyzed by the premature winter blast.
Temperatures in the Southeast has fallen so low that iguanas have started to fall from trees, paralyzed by the freezing cold
Tuesday morning, millions of Americans were still under official freeze warnings in the Southeast, with states including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas all bracing for temperatures in the high 20s
Matt Devitt, chief meteorologist at WINK News, posted an image of one iguana, writing: ‘This big guy just fell out of a tree in Port Charlotte this morning, where it was 38°. It’s not dead, just cold and stunned. Only in Florida!’
AccuWeather senior meteorologist Chad Merrill said: ‘Residents who live in the snow belts should prepare for treacherous driving conditions and near-zero visibility at times through early Tuesday.’
The early-season plunge sweeping across the country has been driven by the polar vortex around Greenland and Canada shifting south and bringing a mass of Arctic air into the US.
The polar vortex is a large area of low pressure and cold air that surrounds the Earth’s poles, mainly affecting the Northern Hemisphere during winter.
It forms due to the temperature difference between the cold polar regions and the warmer tropics, creating strong counterclockwise winds.
This vortex helps keep the cold air near the poles, but it can sometimes weaken or shift, allowing freezing air to move farther south.
Before the new NWS forecast was revealed for next week, WPIX senior meteorologist Mike Masco noted that the ‘atmospheric ingredients’ were already lined up for several wild swings in both temperature and precipitation across the US this winter.
Masco added that another major shift could send the eastern US back into freezing conditions between Thanksgiving (November 27) and the first week of December.
