Tuesday afternoon temperatures in the upper 50s around New York City – even 60 degrees in a few lucky places – will soon be replaced by an arctic chill. In fact, we’ll see some of the coldest temperatures of 2024 early next week.
But afternoon temperatures won’t fall off a cliff. Rather, they’ll stairstep down each day until we bottom out in the 20s Sunday and Monday. Morning lows will be in the teens, close to the 17-degree reading we marked on January 17th this year – our coldest reading of the year so far for Central Park.
The cool-down also comes with a couple of chances for rain and/or snow. After a bright start to Wednesday, rain will move in during the afternoon and linger overnight.
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It’s a quick-moving system, so rain totals won’t be high. Expect under a half-inch in any given location. No flooding, just beneficial rain to offset our continuing drought.
Rain exits the area by the Thursday morning commute, but the cold air continues to spill in.
A fast-moving clipper system races through the area Friday night.
Early indications are that we could pick up a mix of rain and snow from this – with a dusting of snow possible on the ground in New York City by Saturday, thanks to the fact that the precipitation moves through at the coldest time of day – when temperatures are close to freezing. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s possible!
It’s this weekend that the arctic blast really takes hold of the tri-state. Overnight low temperatures will drop into the teens, so grab your warmest parka and have it ready.
By Monday morning, temperatures in the city will be around 16 degrees. Last time this year we even came close to that number was back on Jan. 17 when we bottomed out at 17 degrees.
Thankfully, the brutal cold is not staying will us long. By the middle of next week, temperatures are already back into the 40s, just in time for Christmas and the start of Hanukkah.
