Dangerously cold Friday, frostbite possible within 10 minutes

The core of this frigidly cold Arctic air has arrived and it has left us below zero in both the temperature and wind chill departments. 

All Stateline counties are now under an EXTREME COLD WARNING until midday as wind chill values could be as low as -40°. Currently, we have Galena reporting a wind chill of -40° with Monroe and Janesville coming in at -33°. 

Please do everything you can from being outdoors this morning as it will only take minutes for signs of frostbite to occur on any exposed skin. Knowing the signs will also be very important. 

 

 

  

After midday, we will be placed under a COLD WEATHER ADVISORY as we can expect wind chills during the afternoon and overnight hours to remain near or below -20°. Frostbite time in that type of cold could occur within 30 minutes. 

This advisory will run until 9AM Saturday morning. Wind chills Saturday afternoon won't be nearly as terrible, landing in the -5° to 5° range.  

As of this moment, this frigid cold is expected to linger into the end of the weekend and into the start of the new work week. One, we have a potent winter storm passing to our south late Saturday night into the first half of Sunday. We may need to watch this system as any northerly shift in the track will increase our chance for snow showers. 

Second, forecast models show a potent cold front passing through late Monday night into Tuesday morning. Both systems will likely leave overnight lows below average, leaving us below zero Saturday night and Sunday. It won't be until Monday night and Tuesday night overnight lows climb above zero.