BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Some of the first wintry weather of the season is on the way for much of the U.S. in the coming days, including potentially record low temperatures for parts of the South and snow in the Northern Plains.
“Seems like a shot across the bow,” said Judah Cohen, a research scientist at MIT.
The Dakotas and parts of southern Minnesota have the highest potential for snowfall late Friday through Saturday morning, including some areas that could see as much as 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 centimeters) of snow, said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
Temperatures from the 60s to the 80s (15 to 27 Celsius) on Friday across much of the central U.S. are expected to plummet as a front spreads from the Northern Plains to the South through the weekend. Highs will likely stay in the 30s in parts of Nebraska, Iowa and northern Missouri by Sunday, and the chilly temperatures are expected to spread into Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas, Cook said.
"It’s a little bit unusual to have this strong of a cold push this early in the season,” Cook said.
On Monday, temperatures in the 30s and 40s are forecast to move from the Ohio Valley to the southern U.S., where the cold air could produce daily record lows on Tuesday of 24 in Knoxville, Tennessee; 26 in Birmingham, Alabama; 32 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and 40 near Orlando, Florida, Cook said.
In the South, organizers of festivals held outdoors in November during the region’s typically mild climate are bracing for the unusually bitter cold that seems ahead of schedule for this time of year.
At this weekend’s Molena Bigfoot Fest in the small town of Molena, Georgia, organizers hope the cold weather will be as elusive as the legendary beast — and the temperature doesn’t dip until after the festival concludes Saturday evening.
The animal shows, music performances and most activities will be held outside on Saturday, said Alla Drake, an assistant city clerk who helps out with the festival.
Planning for the Bigfoot festival has been going on all year, so hopes are high for warm weather and no rain, Molena City Clerk Tina Lee said. It celebrates the evidence collected by Pike County Sheriff’s Deputy James Akin, who was called repeatedly to strange events near Elkins Creek in the 1990s. He made plaster casts of an enormous footprint famous for its level of detail.
Warmer temperatures should spread through the South beginning Wednesday.
At the Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, North Dakota, where up to 3 inches (8 centimeters) of snow is forecast Friday night, the staff has begun typical preparations for the cold, General Curator Chelsea Mihalick said. African animals, including a giraffe calf born Sunday, are already inside heated buildings, and maintenance workers make sure heaters are working properly.
“We've gotten pretty lucky as far as we haven't gotten anything yet, or the cold weather just now has come,” Mihalick said.
Some animals, such as tigers, love the snow. Cubs were born at the zoo in May.
“This will be their first snowfall, so it will be fun to see them running around in the snow,” Mihalick said.
The expected cold spell won't last, though, as warmer temperatures are forecast for much of the central U.S. starting Wednesday and Thursday, Cook said.
“This is a brief cold snap. It won't stay around very long,” he said.
AP writer Jeff Martin contributed from Atlanta.
Children wearing coats, hats and gloves play with a ball Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, at St. Mary's Elementary School in Bismarck, N.D. (AP Photo/Jack Dura)
HELSINKI (AP) — Authorities are investigating damage to an undersea telecommunications cable in the Gulf of Finland early Wednesday that occurred between the capitals of Finland and Estonia.
Finnish authorities seized and inspected the vessel suspected to have caused the damage, the country's border guard said in a statement. Its anchor was lowered when it was discovered in Finland’s exclusive economic zone.
Helsinki police have opened an investigation into aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications.
The cable belongs to Finnish telecommunications service provider Elisa and is considered to be critical underwater infrastructure. The damage occurred in Estonia's exclusive economic zone, police said.
The ship's crew of 14 — hailing from Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan — was detained by Finnish authorities, local media reported. The ship, named the Fitburg, was flagged in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It had been traveling from Russia to Israel.
Finnish National Police Commissioner Ilkka Koskimäki told local media that investigators are not speculating on whether a state-level actor was behind the damage. Koskimäki also said the ship had been dragging its anchor for hours.
“Finland is prepared for security challenges of various kinds, and we respond to them as necessary,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb wrote on social platform X.
The undersea cables and pipelines that crisscross one of the busiest shipping lanes in Europe link Nordic, Baltic and central European countries. They promote trade and energy security and, in some cases, reduce dependence on Russian energy resources.
Earlier this year, Finnish authorities charged the captain and two senior officers of a Russia-linked vessel that damaged undersea cables between Finland and Estonia on Christmas Day in 2024.
The Finnish deputy prosecutor general said in a statement in August that charges of aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications were filed against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S oil tanker. Their names were not made public. The statement said they denied the allegations.
The Kremlin previously denied involvement in damaging the infrastructure, which provides power and communication for thousands of Europeans.
The Eagle S was flagged in the Cook Islands but had been described by Finnish customs officials and the European Union’s executive commission as part of Russia’s shadow fleet of fuel tankers. Those are aging vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to evade Western sanctions amid the war in Ukraine and operating without Western-regulated insurance.
For the West, such incidents are believed to be part of widespread sabotage attacks in Europe allegedly linked to Moscow following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Meanwhile, Estonian authorities are cooperating with the Finns to decide whether they should initiate a separate criminal case or move forward in a joint prosecution in the Elisa case. The telecom provider said its service was not affected by the damage.
Another undersea cable, owned by Swedish telecommunications service provider Arelion, was also damaged early Wednesday, according to Estonian officials. It was not immediately clear whether the Arelion cable's damage was linked to the Elisa's.
Martin Sjögren, an Arelion spokesperson, confirmed Wednesday's cable damage in the Gulf of Finland. He said another cable, this one between Sweden and Estonia in the Baltic Sea, was damaged on Tuesday.
“We are actively working with authorities in Sweden and other countries to investigate the cause of the cuts,” Sjögren said in an email. “We cannot disclose any details about exact times or locations at this point with regard to the ongoing investigation.”
Repair work is expected to begin as soon as poor weather conditions clear. He said the vast majority of the company's customers were unaffected by the damage.
The seized vessel Fitburg rests in the harbour in Kirkkonummi, Finland, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva via AP)
From left, Gulf of Finland Coast Guard District Commander Mikko Simola, Chief of the Border Guard Markku Hassinen, Director of the National Bureau of Investigation Robin Lardot, Helsinki Deputy Police Commissioner Heikki Kopperoinen, Helsinki Police Department chief Jari Liukku and National Police Comissioner Ilkka Koskimaeki, attend a press conferance in Helsinki, Finland, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (Kimmo Penttinen/Lehtikuva via AP)
