Pennsylvania, New Jersey Forecast Finally Bringing Warmer Weather

It's been a rough few weeks if you're not a fan of the cold weather, but Pennsylvania and New Jersey are moving away from arctic temperatures. Sure, winter is always frigid, but the beginning of 2025 has brought unseasonably cold weather to a large portion of the U.S. In some areas, schools have been shut down because of the weather being so dangerously cold. So, when will it end? Thankfully, while it's not going to be bikini season quite yet, a large portion of America is getting relief in the form of at least seasonable temperatures, if not warmer.

It's already much warmer that than it was last week, so that's a good thing. A warmup is expected to continue for much of Pennsylvania and New Jersey through the end of the month, according to the Weather Channel, with temperatures getting up into the mid-40s by Friday, January 31. As February kicks off, those temperatures are still looking at being in the mid-40s by the start of next week with sunshine. Some rain is expected over the weekend, but with a mix of sun, too. It won't be super warm, but nothing like the frigid temps the area was bracing for last week. Hopefully that will be the last the area sees of those dangerously cold temperatures.

So, why has the weather to start 2025 been so incredibly cold? Much of the U.S. has been experiencing part of an arctic blast, which is when “very cold air in the Arctic is trapped inside a high-altitude swirl of winds called the polar vortex, which is surrounded by a lower-altitude band called the polar jet stream,” according to the experts at Scientific American. "If the polar vortex gets disrupted, however, the jet stream can become wavy and carry frigid air much farther south than usual in an Arctic blast."

When that occurs, the arctic blast often bring snow, ice and extra cold temperatures. Not fun. According to the crew at First Coast News, an arctic blast, which they say was "coined by the media," means "a rapid southward push of cold air from the poles, extending beyond its usual reach. The phenomenon is linked to the current phase of the polar vortex or Arctic low within the Arctic Oscillation (AO)."

As you travel this season, even if the weather isn't as brutally cold as -5, you should be careful. If there's a storm coming, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration U.S. Department of Commerce says to delay travel until the storm passes. They also suggest enabling wireless emergency alerts on your phone and trying to stay calm.