An impressive cold outbreak will continue nearly nationwide into next week, although Florida’s peninsula, the Desert Southwest, and much of California will escape below-normal temperatures.

Following a weekend storm system across the central and southern Plains, temperatures could plunge to 0° or below as far south as central Texas.

However, snow in advance of the coldest weather should help to insulate the central and southern Plains’ winter wheat crop. Farther north, some wheat fields in northeastern Montana and the western Dakotas are devoid of snow cover amid a protracted spell of sub-zero temperatures, increasing the risk of winterkill.

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