Snow forecast for the Northern Plains and potential record cold expected in the South

Some of the first wintry weather of the season is on the way for much of the U.S. in the coming days, including potentially record low temperatures for parts of the South and snow in the Northern Plains.

BISMARCK, N.D. — Some of the first wintry weather of the season is on the way for much of the U.S. in the coming days, including potentially record low temperatures for parts of the South and snow in the Northern Plains.

“Seems like a shot across the bow,” said Judah Cohen, a research scientist at MIT.

The Dakotas and parts of southern Minnesota have the highest potential for snowfall late Friday through Saturday morning, including some areas that could see as much as 2 to 3 inches of snow, said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

Temperatures from the 60s to the 80s on Friday across much of the central U.S. are expected to plummet as a front spreads from the Northern Plains to the South through the weekend. Highs will likely stay in the 30s in parts of Nebraska, Iowa and northern Missouri by Sunday, and the chilly temperatures are expected to spread into Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas, Cook said.

“It’s a little bit unusual to have this strong of a cold push this early in the season,” Cook said.