Arctic blast to kick-start 2026—‘Snow machine will be flipped on’

An Arctic blast is expected to bring dangerously cold weather to the Midwest and Northeast next week, forecasters say.

“A pair of potent cold fronts will plunge into the northern tier of the United States as 2025 ends and 2026 begins,” said Renee Duff, AccuWeather senior meteorologist. “Behind each front, temperatures will drop and the lake-effect snow machine will be flipped on.”

A six-to-ten-day range map from the National Weather Service (NWS) show below average temperatures are expected across the North East, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and around the Great Lakes in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota between January 1 and 5, bringing in a bitter start to 2026.

It will make a change from the warmest Christmas on record for the U.S. with many areas recording seasonally above average temperatures. But some have had a much colder festive season so far, with a winter storm that brought heavy snow and dangerous ice to parts of the Great Lakes and Northeast on Friday evening.

More than 650 flights within, into or out of the United States were delayed as of early Saturday, with at least 600 canceled, according to FlightAware. New York’s three major airports were among the hardest hit, with further disruptions reported in Boston. That came after more than 8,500 delays and 1,700 cancellations on Friday.

Meanwhile, ice accumulation knocked out power to more than 30,000 homes and businesses in Michigan, as trees and power lines were weighed down, according to poweroutage.us.

Weather Outlook

For now, there are numerous weather warnings for cold and storms in place across much of the northern U.S. In Montana, the lesser used extreme cold warnings are in place along the Canada-U.S. border, with “dangerously low wind chills” of minus 40 expected in some parts. The NWS has said such bitter temperatures “could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.”

“Dress in layers including a hat, face mask, and gloves if you must go outside,” the forecaster advises.

Up in the Great Lakes region, the cold is expected to hold firm over this weekend. Wisconsin and Michigan both have a plethora of winter storm watches in place, particularly in areas on the lakes. Across the waters in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut, numerous winter storm warnings and/or winter weather advisories are active as of early Saturday morning.

“Much of central and southern New England will wake up with 4 to 8+ inches of snow this morning as a clipper low pressure system continues to press eastward against a Canadian high pressure system that is supplying the cold air,” the NWS said in its latest update. “The system will intensify rapidly as it moves swiftly out into the Atlantic during the day today, ending this latest round of winter storm for the Northeast with colder-than-normal temperatures through the remainder of the weekend.”