Without a doubt, Winter has arrived early this year in Pennsylvania with a significant and even record breaking snowfall last week for many locations across the state. This week will bring the potential for near-record breaking cold Thursday and Friday this week, which just happens to be Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
The culprit behind this cold is a low pressure system that will start off as a weak, unorganized system across our area late tonight into early Tuesday Morning. This area of weak pressure will deliver a chance for rain showers for most of us, with far Northern Pennsylvania receiving a period of snow. Any accumulations will be minor, likely no more than an inch, the best chance to receive a little more than that will be in far Northeast Pennsylvania. Below is a look at 10:00 PM tonight: 
As the area of low pressure pulls away to the northeast, the system will rapidly strengthen over the Atlantic waters. While this will not result in enhanced precipitation over our area, this will allow for true arctic air to be pulled down from Canada and will invade our region starting Wednesday this week. The worst of the cold will fall on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Temperatures Thursday and Friday will be 15 to 30 degrees below normal for this time of year. This will allow for record high minimums as well as record low minimums to be tested in multiple locations those days. Below is the GFS showing temperatures compared to normal for this time of year during the day on Thanksgiving: 
So what can you expect for high temperatures on Thanksgiving and Black Friday? Teens in the northern tier and twenties everywhere else! Below is a look at Thanksgiving high temperatures again using the GFS: 
Please note these are ACTUAL high temperatures for Thanksgiving. Wind chill values will be in the single digits and teens on Thanksgiving. Truly remarkable for this time of year. For those that plan on camping out for Black Friday shopping, here is a look at projected low temperatures for 1:00 AM Friday: 
Again those are ACTUAL temperatures. Factoring in the wind chill, it will feel even colder than that. The moral of the story this Thanksgiving and Black Friday is to bundle up!
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