It's About to Get Very Cold in Much of America

Generally speaking, December has been a pretty warm month in the US, notes Newsweek. That's about to change in a big way in January. Forecasters say a wide swath of the country is expected to see record-breaking cold temperatures, along with potentially severe snowstorms, before the month is out.

• The Washington Post reports that 30 states may see sub-zero temperatures in the second week of January, which would surely put a strain on the nation's electrical grid. An accompanying map has details.
• But the first week of January is expected to be cold, too. Texas, for example, is bracing for the arrival of a polar vortex that threatens to bring a repeat of the disastrous winter of 2021, reports the Austin-American Statesman. That year, temperatures dipped below zero in every county for the first time. Snow is expected to accompany the cold weather.

• It starts quickly: Arctic air is expected to arrive in the northern Rockies Monday night and spread to the East Coast by Wednesday. "The next week or so is going to be colder than usual," Candice Hrencecin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boston, tells Newsweek.
• Things can obviously change, but not much of the country is expected to escape January's frigid weather. "Computer models have been signaling for days that the South, including areas from Texas to Alabama, as well as Southeast and Appalachians may see the brunt of the coldest air," per Axios. The East Coast could see significant winter storms with snow the second week of the month, it notes.

(More polar vortex stories.)