New York, NE braces for ‘dangerous’ polar vortex and sub-zero temperatures

Time to dust off those hats and scarves, New Yorkers!

Temperatures in the Big Apple will drop into the teens and single digits this weekend, and a cold wind is expected Friday night, part of an arctic airmass that will bring some of the coldest air masses in five years to the northeast.

Upstate New York and New England are expected to experience minus 40 to minus 50 degrees due to the polar vortex descending from the northwest.

“We’re going to end up with a huge jet stream drop that will eventually open up all that cold air from Canada,” Fox Weather meteorologist Jason Fraser said. “There will be dangerous weather.”

The bone-chilling weather, coming just a week after Central Park recorded record high monthly temperatures, will move into the New York metro area from the Midwest starting Friday as temperatures drop to single-digit lows.

The coldest will be felt on Saturday morning, as temperatures drop from minus 20 to single digits above and below freezing, according to Fox Weather. Record low temperatures of minus 30 degrees could be seen in Boston, Providence, Rhode Island and Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Cold snaps from minus 10 to minus 20 can be observed in New York.

Snow flurries are expected to shed half an inch to an inch of snow and quickly reduce visibility along the edge of cold air, according to Fox Weather.

Wind gusts could reach 45 mph, warning that hypothermia is possible “if proper precautions are not taken,” according to the National Weather Service. Frostbite can occur in as little as 15 to 30 minutes on exposed skin, NWS says.

However, the cold weather will not last long, as temperatures will rise to 40 degrees on Sunday.

In Boston, schools will be closed on Friday after Mayor Michelle Wu declared a state of emergency due to cold weather ahead of extreme weather, according to WCVB. Heating centers will be opened throughout the city, officials said.

In northern Maine, where deep fresh snow already lies on the ground, strong winds can create a “ground blizzard” that affects visibility, according to Fox Weather.