November 7, 2025
2 minute read
Early Arctic cold blast to sweep across US, potentially breaking records
An early cold snap will cool much of the U.S., potentially breaking records in the Southeast.
Temperatures will cool across the country as the cold snap moves first into the central United States and then east.
A blast of cold air will hit the central US and move east over the next few days, potentially breaking records for a particularly early cold snap. The worst cold weather will occur around November 10th.
This event will be especially noticeable in the southeastern United States, where low daytime and nighttime temperatures could break records that have stood for decades, including ones that have stood for more than a century. In total, half of the residents of the contiguous United States may have experienced temperature below zeroaccording to calculations New York Times.
sub-zero temperatures may surprise manyWith parts of the country currently relatively warm and above-average daytime highs, temperatures are expected to reach 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) in parts of central Texas on Friday, said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center.
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But cold air is currently hanging over Canada. At the same time, a mass of low pressure air forms over the Great Lakes. As air swirls counterclockwise around low pressure systems, Cook says, this alignment will push cold air deep into the central U.S. next Sunday, and from there into the southeastern states next Monday and Tuesday.
The system will mostly only affect temperatures, but parts of the Great Lakes region could see several inches of snow. However, Cook notes that the precipitation forecast could still change.
As severely cold temperatures will be concentrated in the Southeast, Floridians will have to watch out for a notable regional danger: iguanas suffering from cold shock that fall from trees after losing circulation, which can begin in temperatures as low as 50 degrees F (10 degrees C). Experts say such animals should be left alone as they may not respond to rescue attempts once they warm up again.
Fortunately, the blast of cold air will dissipate quickly and temperatures will rise across the southern and southeastern United States by next Wednesday. “The silver lining of this impending cold snap is that it should be relatively short-lived,” Cook says. “But it can be quite intense.”
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