By NAZANEEN GHAFFAR NYTimes News Service
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A powerful surge of arctic air from Canada will descend on the Central and Eastern United States this week, delivering record-breaking cold and dangerously low wind chills, forecasters said.

A disruptive winter storm is also forecast to bring snow and ice from the Central Plains to the East Coast.

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The National Weather Service warned that this “widespread extreme cold threat” would send temperatures plunging 30 degrees below average near the Canadian border for the next couple of mornings. Numerous daily temperature records were likely to be broken, with below-zero high temperatures from Montana and the Dakotas to the upper Midwest and sections of the Central Plains. Freezing conditions may reach even the Gulf Coast by Thursday morning.

Extreme cold warnings and cold-weather advisories were issued for areas across the northern Plains and upper Midwest down to central Texas, potentially affecting millions of people.

The Weather Prediction Center warned of dangerous wind chill temperatures capable of causing frostbite within minutes. In the Northern Plains, wind chills between minus 30 and minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit could persist for several days.

The office of the weather service in Bismarck, North Dakota, described the conditions as “life threatening,” cautioning that wind chills in western and central North Dakota could lead to hypothermia.

Subzero wind chills are also expected to extend as far south as Texas, Arkansas and western Tennessee and Kentucky.

Winter storm expected for the nation’s midsection.

In addition to the extreme cold, snow and gusty winds are expected Tuesday across the Central Plains, including parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. The prediction center said up to a foot of snow could fall by Wednesday morning.

Much of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas are “looking at snowfall accumulations of 8 to 12 inches, and it’s possible a couple of places might just get slightly higher,” said Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist from the weather service.

A swath of freezing rain and sleet could also spread farther south across Oklahoma to Arkansas later Tuesday and into the night.

As the storm moves east, heavy snow was expected over southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina on Wednesday.

Areas from eastern Kentucky to southern West Virginia were forecast to get 4 to 6 inches of snow — possibly more in some areas. Southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina could see up to 8 inches. Snow was expected in parts of Tennessee and Kentucky that were hit by deadly flooding over the weekend.

Significant icing from freezing rain was also expected over southeastern North Carolina, with a wintry mix moving into the interior Deep South early Wednesday.

The storm is forecast to track off the East Coast from Wednesday night into Thursday morning. “Current models suggest that most of the winter weather will stay south of New England,” said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the weather service. Forecasters in New York said the storm would pass far enough south and east to spare the area any significant snowfall.

Temperatures will slowly moderate over the weekend, though Robinson Cook noted that “they will still be below average, but not as bitterly cold.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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