An arctic blast is bringing cold temperatures and snow to parts of the United States, including the Plains and Rockies states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and the Dakotas.
Temperatures dropped as low as -14 Wednesday with wind chills even lower in some areas, NBC News reported. The freezing temperatures may affect more than 200 million people by the end of the week.
North Dakota has already had more than a foot of snow, causing the main highway I-94 to be closed for 300 miles, according to a report on ABC's "Good Morning America." It was also snowing in Denver, Colorado, and in the Great Lakes region, and parts of Michigan, Indiana, New York, and Pennsylvania could see up to 2 feet of snow with the system.
By Friday night, temperatures are expected to be in the 20s in most of the U.S. including Albuquerque, New Mexico; Buffalo, New York; Atlanta, and Seattle, NBC News reported.
According to the Weather Channel, all 50 states could have an area where temperatures are below freezing by Saturday morning, a phenomenon the station says is not uncommon.
This is the first of what is usually several arctic blasts in a season, but widespread record lows are not expected with the system, the Weather Channel reported.
“It’s going to be a shock,” senior Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said.
“The fall was closest to the warmest on record so this is really back to reality,” NBC reported.
The arctic blast will be only the beginning of cold temperatures over the next few weeks as a shift in the polar vortex is expected to bring in even colder air next week.
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