After a Warmer Thursday, Bitter Cold Will Return Across the U.S.

The United States will get a reprieve on Thursday from the dangerously cold weather that sent temperatures plunging well below zero, draining car batteries in Chicago and sending southerners scrambling to prep their homes for the freeze. But on Friday, the chill returns.

High temperatures will mostly moderate back to near average on Thursday across most of the U.S., except in areas of the northern plains. Even places like Texas on Thursday will see the pendulum swing to above-average high temperatures, in the 60s and 70s.

As quickly as the warmth resurfaces, however, it will be pushed out by another chilly, but not as cold, air mass 24 hours later. Highs in Texas on Friday will be in the 30s and 40s, except for the southern portion of the state.

The highest potential for hazardous cold and dangerous wind chills over the weekend will be across the north-central Plains into parts of the Upper Midwest, where low temperatures could set daily records this weekend, according to forecasters with the Weather Prediction Center.

Here’s what to expect.

• Cold air still locked across the Northern Plains will dive south into Texas on Friday.

• While not as cold as the wave earlier this week, daytime highs in the Central United States could be 20-30 degrees below normal.

• Saturday, the cold mass will spread across the Eastern United States, reaching the major cities along the coast.

During this time, the West will warm up to above average, eventually including Montana, which has experienced some of the harshest conditions recently.

The weather pattern will start to shift late in the weekend, and temperatures will begin to moderate. By the middle of the week, the warmer winter will have returned, with above-average temperatures across the country.