Which headline do you prefer? WNBC's "Slight Warm-Up Before Deep Freeze Sets In", The Weather Channel's "Not Again! Another Snowmaker?" or AccuWeather's "NYC: Midweek Snow Showers to Precede Next Arctic Blast"? All tell the same tale. A skinny high pressure system that is wedged between a cold front in the Atlantic and an Arctic front in the Midwest is providing the city with relatively mild and sunny weather today. This afternoon's temperature will top out in the upper 20s. HEAT WAVE.
The short-lived relief will come to a quick end tonight as the Arctic front gets closer to New York. First up, we may see a short burst of snow this evening as a squall line develops ahead of the front. The air is really dry so don't expect much accumulation from those flurries and any snow will end once the front arrives around midnight. Behind the front the temperature will quickly fall to the mid-teens, which is where it is expected to stay throughout the day tomorrow. Of course, there will be howling winds to push the chill down to near zero.
Record-breaking cold is expected Thursday night as the third blast of polar air in less than a week reaches its nadir. The Friday morning temperature forecasts range from 0-5 degrees, all of which are below the record low of 7 degrees set in 1950. Friday will warm to 20 and Saturday morning's low will challenge the 1916 record of 5 degrees.
Do not despair! After the cold start on Saturday morning a warm front will approach from the south and we could see a high near freezing. Sunday's high might even reach the mid 40s or even the lower 50s, making it the warmest day since early January. However, there is a catch. In order to get that warm we'll need to contend with snow and freezing rain on Saturday night and the snow/rain/freezing mix on Sunday.
