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(CNN) - A weak polar vortex will open the way for record low temperatures in the eastern half of the United States this weekend. Considerable amounts of nine could fall in the interior of New England, while millions from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico coast experience temperatures well below average.
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An incredible weather pattern for early May is being established, the National Weather Service in Caribou, Maine reported Thursday.
Record cold temperatures are expected to begin between Friday night (which will not be spring at all) and Saturday.
"For more than 100 million Americans, temperatures will drop below 0 over the next few days," said Dave Hennen, a CNN meteorologist.
Friday night and Saturday morning will feel more like November than May, warned the National Weather Service.
This is a seasonal whiplash effect.
Last weekend, Central Park in New York hit 26.6 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit), but this Saturday it will struggle to hit just 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit). Its maximum normal temperature during this time of year is right between those two extremes.
The main culprit for this non-seasonal weather is a storm system that affects the upper half of the country.
"The unusually cold air mass coming from eastern Canada will be blown south toward the eastern United States, behind the storm," said the Climate Prediction Center. "Which will result in record low temperatures, which will spread across southern Alabama and Mississippi this Saturday."
The other responsible for the situation is a weaker polar vortex
You can blame the polar vortex
The polar vortex was so strong this winter and spring that it led to the largest Arctic ozone hole in history, but it did not produce large outbreaks of cold weather.
The polar vortex, as its fearsome name implies, is a circulation of high-level strong winds that normally surround the North Pole, moving in a west-east direction, that is, a low-pressure polar system.
These winds tend to keep cold air locked up in arctic regions of the northern hemisphere. It is not a single storm. Sometimes this vortex can become distorted and go much further south than it normally is, allowing cold air to tip south.
But this winter it did not spread to the United States this winter. That is why spring and winter have been mild and the main cities on the east coast recorded low snowfall.
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But now, the polar vortex is weakening, allowing Arctic air to move out of its usual place and cause low temperatures in the eastern area over the weekend.
Significant snowfall for the interior of New England
Snow will begin in the Great Lakes region this Friday afternoon. At night and early in the morning, snow will spread from the central Appalachians to parts of the northeast.
"It appears that the interior of New England will have a significant amount of wet snow with increasing winds from the north and gusts from Friday night to Saturday morning," said the Climate Prediction Center.
There is even a small chance - 13% - that New York City may have snowfall early Saturday, according to the National Weather Service forecast.
In conclusion, this is an incredibly cold, intense and unusual time for May.
Detroit, Indianapolis and Louisville, Kentucky, could break records during the early hours of Saturday, with low temperatures between -6 and -1 degrees Celsius.
Snow is likely to fall on portions of the Great Lakes, in the northeastern interior sections this Friday through Saturday, where accumulations could be recorded.
Low temperatures Snow Temperatures Polar vertex Winds