First widespread freeze of the season: Will you feel it?
A cold front delivers the first freeze and frost to the northern Plains late week. How cold will your city get?
Will you see the first freeze of the season this week?
FOX Weather is tracking freezing air behind a cold front sweeping the nation through the weekend. Who will feel the first taste of winter after record heat baked so many for the start of October?
Buckle up for Mother Nature's next round of weather whiplash. The same areas that sweat from the record heat early in the week could be seeing the season's first freeze.
A cold front sweeping across the country will take many from summer straight into winter.
"Tomorrow, a good chunk of the central and northern High Plains, portions of the Great Lakes, (will be) not just below average, (but) well below average by 10 to 20 degrees," said Meteorologist Kendall Smith.
"You might say, ‘It's fall, it's a turbulent time of year,'" Meteorologist Ian Oliver said. "It wouldn't be as dramatic if we didn't go from the temperatures that were 20 degrees on the other side of average. So the temperature drop is a huge one."
MASSIVE FALL STORM BRINGS 1,500-MILE COLD FRONT THAT'S PLUMMETING TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE COUNTRY
A cold front sweeping across the country will send temperatures from record highs to freezing. Take a look how far the forecasted highs are from average as the cool air moves in.
(FOX Weather)
Freeze Watches and Warning with Frost Advisories
More than four million Americans are currently under Freeze Watches and Warnings and Frost Advisories.
"It's almost like we're just completely bypassing fall in some of these locations where temperatures are going to be dropping down to the twenties," Smith said.
Plains and Midwest
Minot, North Dakota, that's in a Freeze Warning, hit 68 degrees on Tuesday. Friday and Saturday morning, FOX Weather forecasts a low of 34 degrees. Factor in the possible 50 mph wind gusts, and Minot could feel like 15 degrees.
Cheyenne, Wyoming, is in the same situation. The NWS issued a Freeze Warning and Frost Advisory there as well. The city hit 77 on Monday, but the temperature could drop as low as 27 Saturday morning.
7 WEATHER CHANGES TO EXPECT IN OCTOBER
(FOX Weather)
Keep those seatbelts fastened on this weather roller coaster, though, as temperatures start to rebound on Sunday. Watch the pool of cold air push east for the end of the weekend, allowing the Northern Plains and Midwest to warm.
WHEN CAN YOU EXPECT THE FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON?
Forecast low temperatures into Sunday morning.
(FOX Weather)
High temperatures in the Midwest will also have a turnaround. Minneapolis tied a record high of 89 on Monday for the first time since 1953, and on Sunday, the city broke its all-time record high for October with 92. On Friday, the high will struggle to 52. The Twin Cities' average high is 64.
International Falls, Minnesota, hit 87 on Monday, breaking a record that held for over a century. The mercury tops out at 49 on Friday. The average is 57.
South
FALL FOLIAGE TRACKER: DISCOVER MAPS AND WHERE TO SEE THE MOST BRILLIANT COLORS ACROSS THE US
Low temperatures across the South into the weekend will moderate.
(FOX Weather)
The South will stay well above freezing into the weekend, but temperatures will moderate and make for great sleeping weather, giving the air conditioner a break.
Northeast
The Northeast has a few days to go to get out of the record heat, though. Temperatures spike in the warm air mass ahead of the front before cooling down behind it.
Burlington, Vermont, hit its highest October temperature on record Wednesday with 86. That blew the old record of 82 set in 1891 out of the water. Come Sunday and Monday, the high won't even make it out of the 50s.
High temperatures through the weekend.
(FOX Weather)
PHILIPPE BEGINNING TO IMPACT BERMUDA BEFORE RAIN, WIND ARRIVE IN NEW ENGLAND THIS WEEKEND
A handful of cities have already experienced their first freeze of the season. Most are higher elevations.
HERE'S WHEN TO EXPECT THE FIRST FREEZE OF THE SEASON
(FOX Weather)
The NWS' 8 to 14-day temperature outlook hints at a cooler-than-average eastern half of the country with a warmer-than-normal western half.
The CPC's 8-14 day outlook forecasts below normal temperatures for the eastern half of the U.S.
(Climate Prediction Center / NOAA)