Life-threatening cold headed for Northeast, New England this weekend
Extreme Cold Warnings have been issued for over 43 million Americans, including NYC, Philadelphia, and the entire state of Connecticut. The Northeast has yet to experience this level of cold air so far this season. Wind forecasts have also increased, so High Wind Alerts have been issued along with these Cold Weather Alerts. Overnight lows into Sunday morning will likely drop into the single digits from Philadelphia to Boston, with subzero temperatures expected across interior New England and Upstate New York. When factoring in the wind, wind chill values will easily fall to -10 to -30 degrees below zero.
NEW YORK – Life-threatening cold is expected across the Northeast and New England this weekend, with dangerous wind chill temperatures between -10 and -30 degrees below zero for many places.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued rare Extreme Cold Warnings for more than 49 million people through Sunday afternoon, including the major metro areas of Philadelphia and New York City.
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Neck Bay frozen over in Bayside, Queens, on Feb. 2, 2026.
(Judi Fitzgerald) -
Scituate, MA – February 1: A person shovels plowed snow out of their driveway on February 1, 2026.
((Photo by Finn Gomez/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)) -
A person crosses the street in Copley Square during a snowstorm in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 25, 2026.
(Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images) -
FILE – Boston, MA – January 17: A commuter is bundled for the cold outside South Station.
((Photo by Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)) -
FILE – PHILADELPHIA, PA – JANUARY 27: A general view of the exterior of Citizens Bank Park with snow during stadium shoot at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, January 27, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
((Photo by Denis Kennedy/MLB Photos via Getty Images)) -
FILE – The ice-covered Ohio River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026.
(Photographer: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg via Getty Images) -
U.S. Coast Guard cutters are busy trying to keep New York’s iced-over waterways moving, including freeing an NYPD Harbor Unit vessel that was beset by ice floes Tuesday.
(U.S. Coast Guard Northeast/Facebook) -
People walk in the snow in Central Park in New York City on December 27, 2025. New York City received around 4 inches (10 centimeters) of snow overnight. Airlines canceled 1,500 US flights during the peak holiday travel period Friday, with severe winter storm warnings and heavy snow forecast across parts of the Midwest and northeast. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images)
Amid a winter of relentless Arctic conditions, this is expected to be the most powerful polar punch of the season thus far.
The wind chill will be the main driver of the freezing conditions as powerful winds out of the northwest will usher in air associated with the polar vortex across the Northeast and into the densely populated metro areas of the Interstate 95 corridor.
(FOX Weather)
“The last time [New York City] had a warning issued similar to what we have this morning was in 2004,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Stephen Morgan noted Friday.
Frostbite can set in on open skin within just a few minutes and prolonged exposure to these temperatures could be life-threatening, according to the NWS.
New York City Emergency Management hasn’t stopped its winter weather operations after a very active season so far. Christina Farrell is the first deputy commissioner for New York City Emergency Management, and joins FOX Weather to talk about how the city is readying for another round of dangerously cold temperatures and potential snow this weekend.
Municipal leaders are encouraging people to take proper precautions.
New York City’s Emergency Operations Center has been active since January’s historic winter storm.
“We are prepared,” Christina Farrell, the First Deputy Commissioner of New York City’s Emergency Management Agency told FOX Weather Friday.
“There could be power outages, there could be water main breaks. Sometimes, if people don’t have heat, we see fires,” Farrell said.
HOBOKEN, NJ – JANUARY 26: A person jogs along a snow-covered walkway in front of the skyline of lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City on January 26, 2026, in Hoboken, New Jersey.
( (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images) / Getty Images)
Farrell added that the city is responding aggressively to wellness calls alerting officials to people in need of shelter.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Wednesday that at least 13 people have died since January due in part to hypothermia.
Warming shelters are open across Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. as well.
(FOX Weather)
A cold front will move across New England, the Northeast and reach the Interstate 95 corridor by Saturday morning, accompanied by wind gusts up to 30 mph.
The front comes on the heels of a fast-moving clipper system that will bring a dusting of snow and could create brief periods of whiteout driving conditions for the region on Friday.
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The closer the clipper stays to the coast as it exits, the stronger the winds behind them will be, as cold air rushes in to fill that vacuum.
(FOX Weather)
The freeze will intensify into Sunday morning as wind chills could easily plummet into the negative teens for millions in Philadelphia, New York City and Boston.
WHAT IS AN ALBERTA CLIPPER, MANITOBA MAULER, SASKATCHEWAN SCREAMER?
It will be even colder across parts of the interior, including New York‘s Capital region. Albany could see wind chills lower than minus 23 degrees.
Temperatures will barely budge throughout the day as New Englanders and other NFL fans head out to watch the big football game.
(FOX Weather)
Life-threatening cold is expected to last through Monday before beginning to moderate somewhat by midweek.
The rounds of Arctic air this winter have kept many cooped up inside and frozen mountains of snow leftover from January’s deadly and historic cross-country winter storm.
From arctic blast to bone-chilling temperatures — or even meat-locker cold, meteorologists and residents across the Northeast are running out of adjectives to describe winter’s death-grip over the region this season.
A man clears newly fallen snow with a snowblower on Winter Street in Montpelier, Vermont, after a major winter storm dumped more than a foot of snow on the capital of Vermont on Jan. 26, 2026.
( (Photo by: John Lazenby/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
Fortunately, a measure of relief is finally on the way later this month due to a major change in the weather pattern.
A shift in the jet stream will shield the East from the worst of the polar vortex, which will retreat farther north than earlier projections.
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