Average temperatures across the Mid-Atlantic, including Washington, DC, have trended above the 30-year normal in recent weeks (pressuring NatGas futures) following an Arctic plunge in early December, but a second cold blast of the season is expected to arrive by the end of the week, bringing the risk of winter precipitation by late weekend that could extend into early next week.

"Not one, not two, not three, but four or five plunges of polar air will probably hit the United States through the end of the month. The third, fourth, and fifth episodes currently look to bring the most severe cold," meteorologist Ben Noll wrote on X.

With the incoming cold blast comes the risk of snow for parts of the East Coast. AccuWeather meteorologists say a shifting jet stream will bring a narrow band of snow from southern Georgia to the Mid-Atlantic states and into the Northeast by late weekend.

Meteorologists and weather observers on X have begun posting models ...

Note that the Lower 48 has reached the low point of the winter season, which continues through the end of the month.