Winter Storm To Send NYC Temperatures Plummeting, Forecasters Say

NEW YORK, NY – Winter is about to hit hard with well below average temperatures forecast to leave New York City in a deep freeze.

AccuWeather predicts the city will struggle to get into the 30s by mid-December, with low temperatures in the 20s.

Though the first few days of December will remain unseasonably warm, winter weather is expected to start arriving through next week as a storm in the Midwest tracks east, AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.

Though the storm is expected to dump heavy snow further west, Sosnowski expects it won't make it to the Northeast. "Unless the storm tracks farther east or cold air sweeeps in first, the storm is likely to bring rain and not snow from Washington DC to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston," he said.

But it will bring cold air by the end of the week, he said.

And that is expected to be followed by a second storm set to arrive in the Northeast around Dec. 11 or 12, AccuWeather's lead long-range meteorologist Paul Pastelok said. That's the one predicted to send temperatures plummeting.

"That would put ...high temperatures in the 30s with lows in the 20s for New York City around mid-December," Sosnowski said. Last year's annual temperature for the city was 38.3 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

It's unknown yet if the second storm will bring snow.

(AccuWeather's weather prediction for mid-December.)

Lead image: A deep freeze is predicted for mid-December (Pixabay/bones64)