--- description: Brace yourselves. Over the next seven days, a cold weather blast will cause temperatures in 80% of the U.S. to drop below freezing. title: It’s About to Get Really Cold in the U.S. image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8abba94b9d49fb4b/6988b270a988ca62176ba68f/winter-snow-freezing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [weather](/tag/weather/) ## weather Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # It’s About to Get Really Cold in the U.S. by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 9, 2016 1:53 PM CUT  Geese walk along the snow covered waterfront park through heavy snowfall as the first winter storm of the season hits the area in Portland, Ore. on Dec. 8, 2016. Geese walk along the snow covered waterfront park through heavy snowfall as the first winter storm of the season hits the area in Portland, Ore. on Dec. 8, 2016.Don Ryan—AP by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 9, 2016 1:53 PM CUT Brace yourselves: Over the next seven days, a cold [weather](http://time.com/4521766/hillary-clinton-hurricane-matthew-pulling-ads/ "undefined") blast will cause [temperatures](http://time.com/8165/heres-how-to-predict-the-weather-using-your-cat/ "undefined") in 80% of the United States to drop below freezing. From Montana to South Texas, the cold will sweep through more than half of continental U.S., [CNN](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/08/us/weather-winter-storm/index.html "undefined") reports. Temperatures are set to be 20 to 30 degrees below average. The Northern Plains will also see dangerous wind chills yielding temperatures as low as 40 degrees below zero. Snow has already contributed to a 30-car pileup in Michigan, and Ohio saw a 50-vehicle pileup due to snowy conditions. \[[_CNN_](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/08/us/weather-winter-storm/index.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4596424/weather-forecast-cold-u-s-winter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4596424/weather-forecast-cold-u-s-winter/"},"headline":"It’s About to Get Really Cold in the U.S.","datePublished":"2016-12-09T13:53:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:13:47.605Z","description":"Winter is coming","url":"https://time.com/4596424/weather-forecast-cold-u-s-winter/","keywords":["weather"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8abba94b9d49fb4b/6988b270a988ca62176ba68f/winter-snow-freezing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8abba94b9d49fb4b/6988b270a988ca62176ba68f/winter-snow-freezing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Northwest Weather","caption":"Northwest Weather","creditText":"Don Ryan—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/weather/","name":"weather"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4596424/weather-forecast-cold-u-s-winter/","name":"It’s About to Get Really Cold in the U.S."}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Here's Where the Snowbirds Are Headed","description":"MONEY VIDEO","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/STLpUxyW/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-10-26T21:18:11.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/STLpUxyW.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4596424/weather-forecast-cold-u-s-winter/","duration":"PT1M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4596424/weather-forecast-cold-u-s-winter/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```