Don’t look now, but some very chilly temperatures are sliding into the State College weather picture courtesy of the dreaded “Polar Vortex.”
A big storm that rammed Alaska knocked off a chunk of arctic air and that’s now heading in our direction.
It’s hard to believe that we’re in for a serious cold snap considering that Monday featured beautiful blue skies and temps around 60 degrees.
“We’ve lucked out so far but things are going to change as we get into the second part of the week,” says AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson.
A large mass of arctic air from the Polar Vortex has been giving the Northern Plains an early blast of winter-like weather. Some areas out west will see temperatures 30 to 40 degrees below normal. And it won’t be long before those chilly temperatures push eastward and descend on Happy Valley.
Tuesday’s forecast calls for partly sunny skies and temperatures near 60 again. Clouds will increase Tuesday night into Wednesday with temperatures in the mid-40s.
“We’re not going to start turning colder until late Wednesday night and into Thursday,” predicts Anderson. “Temperatures start dropping back down into the 40s for a daytime high. But the coldest weather, at least here in State College, it looks like that will be centered right around Friday into Saturday where temperatures will struggle to get out of the 30s.”
That means Penn State football fans will likely need to bundle up and fire up some hand warmers for Saturday’s noon game against Temple.
The good news? it doesn’t look like those fans will see any snow. In fact, dry weather is expected. “It should be mostly sunny and the wind shouldn’t be much of a factor,” says Anderson. “It could be a lot worse. Yes, it will be cold but really, if the sun’s out and there’s not much wind it doesn’t feel too bad. The wind really makes all the difference in the world.”
At this time of the year in State College, high temperatures should reach the low 50s. Once that cold air hits, our daytime highs will be around 10 to 15 degrees colder than we typically see. Nighttime lows will likely be in the mid to upper 20s in State College — even lower in surrounding areas.
Anderson says the weather later this week will resemble what we usally see in early December.
Another blast of late autumn warmth probably isn’t coming anytime soon, if at all. “Temperatures will probably average at least 10 degrees below normal through at least the middle of next week,” says Anderson, adding that the cold weather pattern will likely continue for the next ten days or so.
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