Some of the coldest air that we've seen so far this winter looks to be paying the Garden State a visit early next week.

Yes, this is where the ever-buzzworthy term "polar vortex" comes into play.

In the words of late comedian George Carlin, "Sounds important. It isn't."

Well, in this case, it is. I mean, you don't want to be caught off-guard by single-digit temperatures right after the weekend.

But it's also January and this shouldn't be a big surprise.

For the record, a "vortex" is a counter-clockwise flow of air that helps keep cold air near the Poles ("polar"). A "polar vortex" is always sitting there and every once and a while, it decides to pay us a visit.

But before going any further, here's a random picture of the Jersey Shore in the middle of summer and a reminder that we're about 18 weeks away from Memorial Day...

Ocean City boardwalk
Ocean City boardwalk (Chris Coleman, Townsquare Media NJ)
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Back to reality... with that said, January will feel like January around these parts right after a relatively mild weekend.

It looks like a good part of the state will be at or above 40 for Saturday and Sunday before the floor drops out.

The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Mt. Holly had this to say Wednesday afternoon:

Monday through Wednesday [of next week] and beyond will feature the coldest airmass so far this season as arctic air is expected to be in place across a large portion of the [United States] from the Midwest eastward across much of the Northeast.

And Townsquare Media Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow agrees, saying,

Ha, and you thought January was cold so far? Just wait until next week.

When the weather guy starts chuckling, you know it's gonna get cold.

As of now, and this forecast is subject to change over the next several days, it looks like New Jersey could easily see low temperatures in the single digits early next week with highs that might stay in the teens.

The "s" word ("snow") is also floating around, too, but I suggest you follow Dan Zarrow's writings for his thoughts.

Snowfall in Galloway Township following the blizzard on January 29 2022 - Photo: Chris Coleman
Snowfall in Galloway Township following the blizzard on January 29 2022 - Photo: Chris Coleman
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Regardless, now would be a good time to think about having to deal with pipes that might freeze and how your car will handle the cold (mine seems to have an attitude when it's bitterly cold).

As a card-carrying weather geek, I hate overhyped weather events (thus the lack of overproduced scary-looking weather maps here), which I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of on TikTok and YouTube over the next few days, so here it is plain and simple: it looks to be really cold next week. Have a heavy jacket handy.

And as your mother would say, "Where's your gloves at?"

Glossary of NJ winter weather words and phrases

Gallery Credit: Dan Zarrow

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