A powerful blast of frigid, Arctic air, which is being aided by a filament of the polar vortex, has begun smashing longstanding temperature records, from the Ohio Valley to the mid-Atlantic states.
The eastern U.S. is currently gripped by the most unusually cold air of any region on Earth, based on computer model data showing global temperature departures from average, with temperatures between 25 and 45 degrees below average or more.
In Chicago, which is no stranger to cold weather, the Arctic outbreak has threatened records last set in the late 19th century for the coldest high temperatures so late in the season. Typically, the coldest weather occurs in January, and it is more difficult to smash all-time record cold temperatures in February, but this airmass — which is coming via a direct flight from Siberia — seems to be an overachiever.
Dozens of other locations set record lows on Thursday, including Cincinnati, Nashville and Lexington, Kentucky. Most locations in Kentucky were mired in the single digits to low double digits as of 2 p.m. ET, which is astonishingly cold for mid-February. In Bowling Green, for example, the daily record cold high temperature for Thursday is 23 degrees Fahrenheit, set in 1936.
The forecast high for that location on Thursday? Just 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The low temperature of minus-7 degrees in Bowling Green on Thursday morning was the coldest temperature recorded there since January 1994.
In eastern Kentucky, where there's a deep layer of freshly fallen snow, temperatures plunged overnight to around 20 degrees below zero on Thursday morning, with similar lows also possible on Friday morning.
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