Bitterly Cold Follows Yesterday's Cold Front

The long-awaited arctic air has finally spilled into the Stateline this morning. And it's all thanks to yesterday's strong cold front. Temperatures quickly fell into the 20s by yesterday evening, then into the teens & single-digits by the time we were waking up this morning. It felt much colder out there as wind chills ranged between 0° and -10°. If you have to be out and about this morning, dress accordingly. It is essential that you bundle up in MULTIPLE layers, and to cover as much skin as possible. Any exposed skin is susceptible to frostbite within 20-30 minutes of continued exposure to this cold air. Places off towards the northwest, including the Dakotas & Minnesota, started out with wind chills in the -10s and -20s. Frostbite in those weather conditions can occur within 10 minutes. 


In fact, temperatures this morning were 30°-35° colder than how they were 24 hours ago. A drop that we haven't seen in quite some time. That's some really cold air. We did start off the morning with some cloud cover, and a few flurries as well. The rest of today features plenty of sunshine, so there is a plus to today's forecast. Despite the sunny skies, highs today for most will struggle to make it out of teens. Temperatures overall will land in the low 20s. If you are keeping track, that's a good 10° to 15° below average for this far in the year.

Wind chills are expected to stay under the 10° mark through much of Tuesday. Gusty westerly to northwesterly winds are going to keep filtering in this cold arctic air mass throughout the day resulting in wind chills in the single digits through the afternoon. We could see a few clouds overhead later this afternoon, but skies overall should stay partly to mostly sunny.

Skies will stay partly cloudy as we head into the night tonight, and temperatures will once again drop down into the teens. Now you might need to give yourself a few extra minutes tomorrow morning if your commute takes you to Davenport or Cedar Rapids.

A weak & quick moving disturbance could bring with it a few snow showers during the early morning hours, but should move out by the late morning hours. The most that anyone can see from this system could be an inch. A few models do bring a a flurry or two as far northeast as Carroll, Ogle, and Lee county. But a majority of this event will stay to the southwest of the viewing area. Midweek temperatures look pretty close to Tuesday's high temperatures. A more substantial warm-up is ahead for Thursday into Friday, as the Stateline finds itself on the "warm" side of an approaching cold front for the weekend.