A blast of Arctic air is set to cover much of the United States with temperatures below freezing starting on Friday and into next week, impacting millions of Americans in nearly all of the contiguous states.

As more Arctic air masses flow into the WOWK-TV region, you have undoubtedly heard the term “Polar Vortex” brought up in the conversation. But what is it? Definition:

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A developing winter storm threatens to drop snow, sleet and freezing rain on parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas as frigid air that escaped the Arctic plunges temperatures to subfreezing levels in some of the southernmost points of the U.S.

As the cold front moved southward Tuesday, it prompted a cold weather advisory for the Gulf Coast and pushed temperatures below freezing in El Paso, Texas.

A major winter blast of snow, ice, wind and plunging temperatures in the U.S. stirred dangerous travel conditions from central and southern states all the way to the East Coast early Monday,

As a deep winter chill begins to take over the northern half of the country, a new major winter storm will move across the U.S. this weekend into early next week.

The polar vortex is a ring of cold air that typically circles the Arctic. A strong jet stream essentially acts like a fence, keeping it locked there. If there's any weakening in the jet stream (the fence), the frigid air can become unstable and spill out. This sends the normally trapped cold air much farther south.

Snow and winds are likely to trigger flight cancellations and cause headaches for people traveling to DC for Inauguration Day.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Looking ahead to next week, a major arctic blast is expected to settle into Hampton Roads and Mid-Atlantic. The region will likely deal with the coldest weather so far this winter season.

The polar vortex is responsible for next week’s cold, which will bring extreme cold as far as the deep south. The cold air will hang around Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing below-zero ...

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Partly cloudy. Slight chance of a shower, becoming less likely later this evening. The chance of a thunderstorm. Winds westerly 15 to 25 km/h turning north to northwesterly 15 to 20 km/h in the evening. Sun protection recommended from 8:30 am to 4:40 pm ...