BLIZZARD WARNING: Roads closed, dangerous wind chills, travel conditions continue

Strong winds have been blowing snow around the area which has led to drastically reduced visibility, no travel advisories, closed roads, and dangerously cold wind chills.

The blizzard warning will remain in effect through today before expiring at 6 am Saturday morning. The wind chill warning will also remain in effect through today before expiring at 12 pm Saturday afternoon.

Winds today are expected to be stronger than Thursday with sustained winds up to 30 mph and gusts reaching up to 50 mph at times. This means we are still expecting dangerously cold wind chill values and potentially life threatening travel conditions. Many roads around the area are already closed following yesterday’s conditions. Other roads are ranging from no travel advisories to completely snow covered. Roads that may seem clear or have a relatively clear lane are not necessarily dry or free of ice. Due to the very powdery snow, the strong winds, cold temperatures, and bitter wind chills, the snow acts more as like ice on the roads. It is advised to use extreme caution on all roads if you are traveling despite no travel advisories around the area. Temperatures will remain in the negatives all day with a high around -4 degrees. Due to the strong winds in the area, dangerously cold wind chills between -35 degrees and -45 degrees will continue. This means that frostbite and hypothermia can start occurring in as little as 10 minutes or less. Winds will remain strong overnight up to 30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph possible. Temperatures will dip to around -10 by Saturday morning with wind chill values continuing to range between -35 and -45 degrees.

Saturday morning is when the blizzard warning is projected to expire, with the wind chill warning projected to expire around noon. Despite the blizzard warning expiring in the morning hours, winds will still remain strong up to 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph possible. This means that blowing snow, hazardous travel conditions, reduced visibility, and bitter wind chills are still expected around the area. This means that roads may still remain closed, no travel advisories may remain in effect for some areas, and others may continue to see partially to completely snow covered. It will be recommended to check road conditions and travel conditions ahead of heading out the door. It is also important to have a few routes planned in case you come up to a road that may still be closed due to conditions. Temperatures will hover around -1 through afternoon hours with sunshine expected all day. Winds will remain breezy heading into the overnight hours as temperatures dip to around -11 by Sunday morning. Make sure to put out something warm for Santa and his reindeer!

Sunday will start off with sunshine in the morning and early afternoon hours before skies become cloudy. Winds will be much lighter up to 10 mph with some areas up to 15 mph at times. Temperatures will be slightly warmer with highs above 0, hovering around 5 degrees. Clouds move in through the afternoon hours ahead of light snow. Snow will move in through the mid to late afternoon hours and continue overnight into Monday morning as temperatures dip to around 0.

Next week we will get some relief from these brutal temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills. Temperatures will start off in the single digits on Monday afternoon once the snow wraps up in the morning hours. We will see one more night in the negatives Monday night. We will teeter between partly cloudy and mostly cloudy through the majority of next week. As temperatures start to rise into the low to mid-30s by the middle of next week, we are watching our next possible chance at winter weather from a rain/snow mix on Thursday and Friday to snow chances over the New Years weekend.

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