Bitterly Cold Start To March

It is a bitterly cold start to the work week. Wind chills this morning and early afternoon will be in the -15° - -25° range. Our average high temperature should be in the lower 40s for this time of the year. Instead today we're going to be around 30° below average.

As a result of the dangerously cold start this morning, the National Weather Service has issued a Wind Chill Advisory for the entire Stateline until 11am this morning.







As of 4am, temperatures are in the negative single digits across the board: from -3° in Rochelle to -9° in Galena.








In addition to temperatures in the negative single digits, winds are sustained in the 10-15mph range with guts upwards of 25mph. This is making wind chills dangerously cold this morning. It is also helping to prohibit temperatures from falling even further.



 

Winds are expected to remain blustery as we go throughout your Monday. We're going to still be dealing with mid 20mph wind gusts this afternoon.







With temperatures in the negative single digits, winds sustained 10-15mph and wind gusts upwards of 25mph are making wind chills feel like it's anywhere from -20° to near -30°.







Compared to Sunday morning, we are upwards of 25° colder starting off your Monday morning.










It's not just our neck of the woods that's dealing with the blast of artic air. Wind chills across the entire region are in the -20s and -30s from as far north as the US/Canada border to as far south as southern Iowa and Nebraska.







The polar vortex has yet again weakened just enough to allow an artic high pressure system to slide down just to our west. With the artic high pressure system, it's bringing a strong northwesterly flow along with it.






The worst of the bitter artic cold should occur over the next several hours. Wind chills should remain in the -20° range throughout the morning hours.







Even by the time we get to the noon hour, make sure you are bundled up if you plan on heading outside during your lunch break. Wind chills will be on the upswing, but will still in the -10° - -15° range.

As we head into the evening hours, we'll still be dealing with negative single digits across the entire Stateline.








It's such a cold start to the week and month that we could be talking about record cold temperatures. High temperatures this afternoon should top out near 10°. The current record cold high temperature stands at 14°, set back in 2002. We have a pretty good chance at shattering the record today, and even tomorrow as well. High temperatures tomorrow (Tuesday) should top our near 17°, which is still well below average. The current record cold high temperature stands at 17°, set back in 1960. So there is a chance to tie, if not break, the record tomorrow too.

The last time we were this cold was back on March 6th, 2015, when we saw a low temperature of -5°. So far this morning we've bottomed out at -4°. Skies are mainly clear, so if winds are able to subside at all we could come close to today's record low temperature. The current record low temperature stands at -9° set back in 1978. But by the looks of things, we should be safe from hitting the record because winds are expected to remain blustery.

We are going to be over 30° below average today, and the below average conditions don't end here. While temperatures will only improve from here on out, we are still going to be below average the rest of the work week and into the start of the weekend.






So make sure you dress in multiple layers, have the coat/jacket and hat, gloves and scarf before you head out the door this morning. You'll want all the layers possible because frost bite can set in within 30 minutes at these temperatures.