Much of US braces for harsh cold weekend weather ahead of spring; another atmospheric river headed for California

It will be bitterly cold in much of the U.S. this weekend, but spring is just around the corner.

On Saturday, arctic cold will blast the upper Midwest from the Dakotas and Minnesota down to Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin, as well as parts of Montana and Wyoming.

Frigid temperatures will target the East and the South on Sunday, while the 12th atmospheric river this season will start moving into California.

Here's what you need to know about this weekend's weather:

The Midwest

It'll be so cold and windy in parts of the Midwest on Saturday that the wind chill could get down to 30 degrees below zero, said Bob Larson, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.

The coldest places will be the Dakotas and western and northern Minnesota, he said, with wind chills between negative 10 and 30.

"That's harsh cold you usually find in January, not a few days from the start of spring," he said. "That is pretty harsh for so late in the season."

Heavy lake-effect snow is also expected to hit the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley this weekend.

The spring equinox is set for 5:24 p.m. EDT on Monday.

Temperatures and winds will ease up in the region on Sunday.

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The East

The cold expected to impact the Midwest starts moving east on Saturday night, bringing possible lake effect snow and squalls across parts of Michigan, northern Ohio, Indiana, northwest Pennsylvania and western New York.

Snow is expected to impact parts of the region, with up to six inches expected from Erie, Pennsylvania, to Buffalo and outside of Rochester, New York.

Winds could gust as high as 45 mph.