How Close Will NC Come To Beating Coldest Day On Record?

NORTH CAROLINA — The polar vortex, teaming with a wicked wind, is making life miserable in much of the Midwest U.S. this week, as the east coast, including North Carolina, braces for the possibility of wintry weather by the weekend.

The National Weather Service has invoked frightful words and phrases such as “polar vortex” and “life-threatening cold” to describe the arctic air that settled over the Upper Midwest last weekend.

The blast of cold air moving southeast by the weekend will keep temperatures in the 30s Friday and Saturday throughout the Charlotte metro, according to the National Weather Service.

High temperatures are expected to plunge by nearly 20 degrees between Thursday and Friday, NWS said. While the Charlotte metro is set to enjoy highs in the mid 50s Wednesday and Thursday, by Friday the daily high will not climb out of the 30s. By Monday night, the overnight low will be around 30 degrees and the region might even see snow showers.

But is this the coldest it’s ever been in North Carolina?

No.

North Carolina's record cold temperature was recorded on Jan. 21, 1985, when the temperature on Mt. Mitchell was 34 degrees below zero, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Center for Environmental Education.

See Also: The Polar Vortex Returns: Prevent Pipe-Freezing; Should You Warm Up Your Car?

That temperature record may not be broken in this blast of bitter arctic air, but the polar vortex is unusual because the frigid cold is expected to stick around at least through Valentine’s Day,

A meteorological phenomenon that hasn't hit the United States since 2019, a polar vortex is a large area of low pressure located near the poles; and at times during the winter months, the low pressure breaks down, sending south all that bottled-up cold air.

The result? Extremely frigid temperatures and huge plunges of cold air.

This one is living up to its billing.

It has been frightfully cold over much of the north-central United States. On Tuesday, double-digit subzero temperatures were common as far south as Iowa, and the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, North Dakota, warned the frigid temperatures are made worse by a wind that may make it feel like minus 50 degrees through Sunday.

Temperatures may struggle to make it above zero in many areas over the next week. The stretch of bitterly cold weather was expected to plunge every U.S. state, including Hawaii, below freezing.

Don’t lose hope. Spring is coming, and summer after that — though now might not be the time to tell you summer can bring extreme heat to many areas of the United States. The record high temperature was 110 degrees, recorded on Aug. 21, 1983 in Fayetteville.