Life-threatening arctic blast to hit eastern US — as experts warn about ‘dangerously cold’ temps

Bundle up — or else!

A life-threatening arctic blast is set to strike the eastern US in the coming days, plunging temperatures below zero and into the single digits as experts warn people to stay inside or risk hypothermia.

The bone-chilling cold front is expected to peak later this week, with Chicago, parts of Michigan and upstate New York among the hardest hit, forecasters said.

“It is dangerously cold,” AccuWeather Senior meteorologist Tom Kines told The Post. “This arctic air — an arctic blast — is coming. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

The frigid weather will wallop the northeast over the weekend as much of the region shivers through temperatures roughly 30 degrees below average for late January, Kines said.

As the arctic blast blows in from Canada, folks in the worst-hit areas — including parts of Minnesota and Illinois — risk hypothermia if they stay outside for more than a couple hours without proper clothing, Kines said.

“If you have to go outside, respect the cold,” he said, warning people to layer up and only go out if they have to.

“When it’s that cold, it actually hurts some times when you first breathe in,” he said. “It’s nothing to sneeze at.”

Power outages are also a threat as residents sometimes crank up the heat and potentially overwhelm the grid, he said.

In New York City, the mercury will plunge into the low teens over the weekend as a snowstorm hits Sunday, Kines said.

The storm is forecast to dump a few inches — “at least enough to shovel and plow”— on the city, Kines said.

Overall, temperatures in the Big Apple are expected to be more moderate Thursday with a high of 45 and a low of 29 degrees — before the cold snap intensifies over the weekend.

Friday will be partly sunny with a high of 36 and a low of 12 degrees. On Saturday, the city will see a bitterly cold high of 19 degrees and a low of 12 degrees.

Temps will then hit a high of 20 and a low of 15 as the storm dumps snow on the city, forecasters said.

It’s not expected to warm up again until after next week, Kines said.

“So if you don’t like the cold, you better jump on a plane soon,” he said.