A powerful blast is forecast to plunge much of the central and eastern United States with some of the planet’s most extreme cold temperatures right before Christmas, according to a recent forecast.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) climatologist Judah Cohen forecasts that from the Midwest to the East Coast, temperatures will run 15–20 degrees below normal for much of the second half of December, with the coldest anomalies arriving around the third week of the month. (RELATED: Authorities Issue Winter Storm Alert For Millions As Powerful Nor’easter Set To Blast East Coast With Snow, Ice)
“My thinking is that the cold the first week of December is the appetizer and the main course will be in mid-December,” said Cohen to USA Today.
“The most expansive region of most likely extreme cold on Earth stretches from the Canadian Plains to the US East Coast in the 3rd week of December,” said Cohen, who cited his weather modeling computer and its discoveries, per the New York Post.
Northeast set to be blasted by ‘most extreme cold on Earth’ before Christmas https://t.co/dKbIlBlQVy pic.twitter.com/pgcF9WA73E
— New York Post (@nypost) December 1, 2025
The brutal cold will be driven by a major southward plunge of the polar vortex, allowing a massive surge of arctic air to spill across the United States.
The exact depth of the cold remains uncertain and will vary by region, but Cohen has expectations that temperatures in most areas will drop below the levels currently being experienced.
Parts of the East Coast are already getting a taste of the incoming chill, with the Albany region forecast to see highs only in the teens and 20s from this weekend through next week.
