Buckle up! Another plunge of frigid Arctic air is on the way

Frigidly Cold Holiday: Cold weather advisories extend from the Upper Great Plains to New England this morning. For our northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin counties, this will run until noon today as wind chill values could fall within the -20° to -25° range. Gross. Fortunately, it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day so most of you will have the day off from work or school. However, if you have to out and about this morning, dress accordingly. Frostbite can occur in as little as 30 minutes. 

Winds will remain rather strong during the morning hours, gusting up to 35-40 mph. We should see a gradual decrease in our winds as the afternoon progresses. This will likely leave wind chill values well-below zero and afternoon high temperatures in the low to mid single digits. 
 

 

Wednesday's Clipper: Improvements begin to file in Tuesday as winds turn more to the south and southwest. This will at least get us back into the mid to upper teens for highs, with 20s on the table for Wednesday. It's also during this time in which we see clouds gather up as our next clipper system approaches. With it will be a batch of scattered snow showers which forecast models show arriving as we approach midnight, with chances lingering into the morning commute Wednesday. 

Next Round of Arctic Air: A strong Arctic high pressure system will sink down, taking over much of the central lower 48 by late Thursday. Forecast models place said high overhead late Friday into early Saturday, allowing the the coldest air of the winter season to spill in. Overnight lows fall below zero starting Thursday, possibly dropping as low as -10 Friday night and Saturday night. Afternoon highs will end up around 10 degrees Friday, dropping into the single digits for Saturday and Sunday.