Meteorologists warn that the coldest burst of Arctic air this season is coming to put an icy and prolonged exclamation point on America’s winter of repeated polar vortex invasions starting this weekend.

On the heels of successive winter storms that brought heavy snow and ice to a wide swath of the United States, another arctic blast tied to the polar vortex will send temperatures plummeting across the country early next week,

A weeklong, polar vortex-related Arctic outbreak rivaling any seen so far this winter is slated to bring frigid conditions to much of the U.S. east of the Rockies next week. Threat level: The Arctic air is likely to send temperatures plunging to at least 30 degrees below average for mid-February across the Midwest and Plains states,