Make no mistake; it is very cold way up north. Toward the Arctic Circle, thetemperature has already fallen to 20 below zero, and it will keep dropping.Currently, that bitter air is all bottled up, but a pathway south will open upnext week. The cold will get into the North Central states beginning nextThursday when temperatures may not leave the teens in Montana and NorthDakota.

The arctic air will spread south and east late next week, possibly triggering asignificant lake-effect snow event.

Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist John Kocet