Frigid weather pushing in as the calendar changes

New Year’s Eve is partly sunny to mostly cloudy.

Even the usually rainy Pacific Northwest got the white stuff. There’s still a bit of a breeze, so wind chill values are in the single digits and teens. Temperatures at sundown New Year’s Eve will be around 10°.

“When I came in there was probably 70 people here”, Sue Howe, program supervisor, said of the number of people inside on Christmas.

According to the National Weather Service’s seven-day forecast, the Southside could see snow on Friday.

Wednesday’s high temperature should be around 61 degrees, and the National Weather Service indicates that’s pretty much the high for each day through the end of the year. We’ll drop into the low single digits here in Indianapolis by daybreak and below zero in our northernmost communities.

The first day of 2018 will be as cold as today with lows in the mid/upper 20s to highs only in the mid/upper 30s.

“Windchill is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by wind and cold”, the National Weather Service explained.

As a result, there may be a few slick spots on elevated surfaces in the morning. That same data shows that on the average December 27 is about 31 degrees, what some would consider a welcome relief when starring at the thermometer this Wednesday.

In addition to slowing travel in New England, the storm was responsible for some power outages. “The winter weather is still far from a sure thing”. Northern Indiana had been expecting up to 5 inches with slightly less in the southern part of the state.

As this bitter cold made its way east overnight, it was expected to move over relatively mild Great Lakes, producing intense lake-effect snow bands capable of producing 2 to 4 inches of snow in an hour. Winds E 5-10 miles per hour. If the interaction is significant and the coastal low can take over, then the snow could be something more significant as well.