Areas of the country affected by recent arctic blasts are expected to start warming this weekend, with temperatures expected to be at or above average for several days.
Warm air is expected to begin arriving on Sunday and become widespread by the beginning of the next work week.
Chicago and New York are both expected to see temperatures rise into the 40s and 50s, while Buffalo is expected to finally reach freezing and stay below freezing through the final days of the weekend.
“At the beginning of a new week, we're almost completely flipping the script,” said FOX Weather Meteorologist Jane Minnaar.
More than 200 million people will benefit from warmer air, instead of more than 200 million people experiencing below-average temperatures as they did during the Arctic explosion.
Sudden changes in air masses can cause problems
While warm air is nice for most people, it can potentially cause problems, especially in areas that are digging out of snowdrifts.
“I remember two days ago with 50 mph gusts and wind chills that were in the single digits and below freezing. Now it's going to be in the mid-40s in Minneapolis,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Ian Oliver said.
The FOX Prediction Center said a combination of above-average temperatures and precipitation late into the weekend and early in the week could lead to isolated areas, especially around large lake-effect snowdrifts in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. It warns that flooding will occur.
Meteorologists in these areas have already warned of the potential threat of flooding, but the impacts are not currently believed to be widespread enough to issue a flood watch ahead of the melt.
There are also questions about how long the warm air will actually last, as forecast models show another sharp dip in the Arctic in mid-to-late week.
Similar to recent cold air, warmer water temperatures are expected to energize the lake-effect snow machine, especially in communities downwind of the Great Lakes.
So, while the snowpack may melt, it won't all be gone by the time the possibility of heavy snow is again in the forecast.
According to a recent NOAA snowfall analysis, 21.5% of the country is covered in snow, which is expected to decrease rapidly over the next few days, but not near zero.
This means that some areas can have snow on the ground for most of the month, if not all of the season.
This snowfall is much higher than last year, when only 15.1% of the country was covered in snow, and on par with 2022, when 24.3% of the country was covered in freezing precipitation.
Melting ice is likely to occur throughout the Midwest, increasing the risk for people entering the lake.
Already in 2024, several people have died in the country's northern layer after venturing onto too-thin ice.
Every year, experts advise the public to never step foot on ice of unknown thickness.
At least 4 inches of ice is required to adequately support a person's weight, and at least 8 inches of ice is recommended if you are driving a small vehicle on top of it.
Ice levels tend to peak around mid-February, but vary depending on winter weather patterns.
