TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) -- It may be difficult to believe that we've had nine days this January with high temperatures actually above average ... but when cold snaps have occurred, they've been strikingly obvious.
The upper-level wind pattern has been favorable in allowing massively cold Arctic air to pour into much of the eastern half of the United States, plunging temperatures below freezing all the way to the Gulf Coast.
Longer-range forecast data suggest that this trend will be slow to break, leading to more chilly conditions from the Great Lakes to the Florida peninsula through next week.
Unusually strong weather systems in parts of the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean regions have contributed to the altered upper-level pattern, helping to force an overall warmer and dry trend in the western U.S. and Alaska. As a result, there may be a repeat performance next week of air temperatures in Anchorage being warmer than some lows in the Southeastern U.S.
