A burst of extremely cold, arctic air will descend through the U.S. over the next few days and may lead to a nor’easter type of storm for the East Coast this weekend.

Cold weather continues

Extremely cold air has been locked in across most of the U.S. east of the Rockies for almost a week now. It was the catalyst for a major winter storm across the southern and eastern U.S. this past weekend and the cold that has followed caused the cleanup from that storm to be awfully slow.

Ice and snow still cover the ground over northern Texas and the Lower Mississippi River Valley as this frozen precipitation has not yet been allowed to melt. A couple of clipper systems – quick bursts of snow and cold originating from Canada – have followed have reinforced the cold air this week, and one last push of arctic air could make for more frozen impacts and the potential for a nor’easter this weekend.

Arctic air surging south

A relatively weak clipper system moved from the Pacific Northwest over the Rockies into the Canadian Prairies and Northern Plains on Thursday, January 29. As this clipper continues southeast through the country, the cold air from Canada will be pulled south with it, spreading across the U.S. east of the Rockies. Temperatures will be falling back to where they were earlier this week, with many areas seeing temperatures 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit below normal again for a few days.

For this weekend, temperatures are likely to be colder than they have been this winter in the Southeast. The entire Florida Peninsula, which was partially spared from the extreme cold this week, will probably see the coldest air of the year as temperatures fall below freezing all the way down to Miami and the Everglades on Sunday, February 1, and may continue again on Monday morning, February 2. Significant impacts, including increased heating demand, crop damage, livestock stress, and even cold-stunned iguanas falling from trees, are all on the table for Florida.

Image: Forecast temperature anomaly for the four-day period from January 29 to February 1, 2026. Another burst of arctic air will flow through the U.S. east of the Rockies over the next several days. A return of temperatures some 20-30 degrees below normal is in the forecast for a widespread area of the country. Source: DTN.

Heavy snow from Friday into the weekend

The clipper system may bring a streak of moderate snow – about 3-6 inches – to the northern High Plains for Thursday and Friday, January 29-30. However, the system won’t create much precipitation until it can interact with some slightly warmer air in the western Atlantic.

Once that happens, pulling in some warmth and moisture over the top of the cold air is likely to cause a rapidly-deepening low-pressure system just off the Carolina coast on Saturday, January 31.

Computer models show uncertainty of the exact track of this storm, but it should move northeast on Sunday. If it gets close enough to the coast, significant impacts will be felt from the Carolinas up through southern New England. But if the system remains just off the coast, many of those areas will be missed.

At this stage, it appears that no matter the track, the Carolinas and southern Virginia are in line for a burst of heavy snow for late Friday and Saturday. Six-to-ten inches of snow is in the forecast on most models with some being heavier if the track is closer to the coast.

That 6- to 10-inch swath could be extended northeast if that track indeed is closer to the coast, which would include east of the I-95 corridor from Richmond up to Boston. Winds from the storm near the coast may be in the 40-50 mph range and could cause some damage from falling trees and powerlines, especially if the snow does occur.

Warmer weather then another cold snap on the horizon

This week’s burst of arctic air will be the last in the series and warmer temperatures that are building in the West will spread east of the Rockies first in the Northern Plains over the weekend, and then eastward next week.

Deep snow will likely limit the warming from the Southern Plains through the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, and even some areas in the Southeast will stay on the colder side of normal next week.

But this burst of warm air is also forecast to be short-lived. The weather pattern is setting up to bring back the Arctic air first to the Eastern U.S. next weekend, in the roughly February 6 to 9 timeframe, and then eventually the Central U.S. the following week. With more cold weather still on the cards, winter isn’t over of the US just yet.