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Polar Vortex to Freeze the East Coast Next Week

Two rounds of freezing weather are expected to transpire, with the first arriving soon after the New Year.

An arctic blast is expected to sweep through the eastern United States in the New Year, potentially bringing the coldest temperatures for over a decade. Two rounds of freezing weather are expected to transpire, with the first arriving soon after the New Year, according to Axios. Alongside the freezing cold, multiple winter storms are also a possibility in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The second round in particular is being watched by meteorologists closely, as it may produce serious East Coast winter storms, from early to mid January. NOAA projections have shown that cold temperatures could fall to 25 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit below the average for mid-January, a stark difference from the unusually warm winter the nation has had so far this year. A polar vortex in winter 2013-2014 brought extreme cold weather to parts of the United States, with Chicago hitting a new record low of -16 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest in about two decades for the city. According to Axios, certain computer models are predicting this may just happen again.