When Metro Detroit's bitter cold stretch will end

DETROIT (FOX 2) - It's been a bitterly cold stretch for Southeast Michigan, and it all started with the winter storm that brought much of the area 3-6 inches of snow. 

We've spent the past 56 hours with wind chills at or below zero. In that bitterly cold stretch, the air temperature hasn't peaked above 12 degrees.

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The cold is nothing new for Michigan. The coldest low recorded for the area fell to -24° on Christmas Eve in 1874. 

In most recent years, the coldest Detroit has fallen was -22° on January 19, 1994. That same year and day, daytime highs didn't get above zero with highs topping out at -4°. The longest stretch below zero for Detroit was on February 8 at 7 p.m. to February 11 at 2 p.m, 1899, with 68 hours below zero.

The reason for these spells of bitter cold comes from the polar vortex. The polar vortex lives on both poles, north and south the pole, and is weaker during the summer month and stronger during the winter months. 

We get these bursts of colder energy when a piece of polar vortex rides along a jet streak along the jet stream.

The good news is that the bitter cold looks to exit much of the U.S. as early as Jan. 23. The Climate Prediction Center has much of the country above normal for the chance to see temperatures trend above the seasonal January highs. 

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Temperatures will likely climb above the freezing mark through the last two weeks of the month.