Deep freeze returns to set country shivering again

Cold air returns from the north very quickly Sunday night into Monday after the brief weekend thaw.  

A deep freeze once will again consume most of the country from Montana to Atlanta.

The low temperatures will last most of the week, heading down into the South as the polar jet stream takes a big dip, according to Eric Fisher, chief meteorologist at WBZ in Boston.

The Northern Plains through the Midwest into the Northeast will get the brunt of the cold as the country east of the Continental Divide will have below average temperatures. The worst of the cold will be around the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest, according to Fisher

The only spots that can expect above average temperatures will be the Southwest and southern Florida.

Highs will be in the single digits for Monday and Tuesday in Fargo and Minneapolis and single digits to low teens in Chicago. For Tuesday and Wednesday, temperatures will be in the teens and 20s in the Northeast, where most communities would be seeing highs near 40 this time of year, on the doorstep of March, Fisher said.

And it is not just cold. The winter has been one for the record books in many cities. Indianapolis has seen its snowiest winter on record, Minneapolis has shivered to its second coldest, and Duluth, Minn., has had 59 subzero nights,  two months worth of extreme cold, Fisher said.