A deep freeze is settling in for most of Wisconsin with subzero temperatures expected to arrive later in the weekend and continue through early next week.
The National Weather Service said that a wind chill advisory and later, a wind chill warning, are expected to be issues during the weekend. NWS officials are calling the cold conditions Sunday through Tuesday “life threatening.”
Sarah Marquardt, an NWS meteorologist in Sullivan, said a very cold air mass is headed Wisconsin’s way.
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“Temperatures will be dropping on Saturday and throughout the day Sunday, and by Monday, we are looking at temperatures of negative 20 to negative 15 (degrees) across the state,” she said.
Marquardt warns that those bitterly cold temps will be coupled with wind gusts of around 20 mph, leading to wind chills of minus 30 to minus 55 degrees across the state.
The advisory will be in effect for all of south-central and southeastern Wisconsin from midnight on Saturday to 6 p.m. on Sunday, according to NWS officials.
“This can be attributed to a strong cold front that will push southeast through Wisconsin Saturday morning allowing brisk northwest winds to begin ushering colder air into Wisconsin,” NWS officials wrote on the service’s website.
The NWS said this advisory “is only leading up to a longer and more significant period of colder air entering Wisconsin mid-afternoon Sunday.”
NWS officials said that they expect to issue a wind chill warning for all of south-central and southeastern Wisconsin from 6 p.m. on Sunday through noon on Tuesday.
NWS officials wrote that this is “the coldest air mass we have experienced since the arctic blast of February 1996.” They said these conditions as “dangerously cold” and “will become life-threatening on Sunday night through Tuesday morning.”
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Subzero Temperatures To Arrive Sunday
Friday night’s forecast is partly cloudy and windy with an overnight low dipping to 18 degrees with a wind chill of minus 9 degrees. Winds are coming from the south and southwest at about 20 to 25 mph with gusts reaching 35 mph, according to weather service, Weather Underground.
Most of the weekend will remain equally chilly. There’s a 40-percent chance of snow on Saturday with daytime highs climbing to 36 degrees and a wind chill of 10 degrees. Winds will come from the southwest at 10 to 20 mph with gusts reaching 30 mph.
By Saturday night, skies will become partly cloudy and temperatures will dip to minus 4 degrees with a wind chill of minus 13 degrees. Winds will come from the northwest at 10 to 15 mph.
Temperatures won’t rise much from overnight lows on Sunday. The high is expected to climb to only 3 degrees with a wind chill of minus 20 degrees. Winds will come from the north and northwest at 10 to 15 mph.
The temperatures will drop even further on Sunday night. The overnight low will slip to minus 24 degrees with a wind chill of minus 47 degrees. Winds from the west and northwest will reach 15 to 20 mph.
Monday will continue the subzero temperatures. The high will remain minus 13 degrees with a wind chill as low as minus 51 degrees. Winds will be breezy, coming from the west and northwest at 15 to 25 mph.
For more weather information and radar maps, visit WPR.org’s Weather section.
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