WEATHER ALERT DAY: Bitterly cold temperatures, dangerously cold wind chills & windy conditions

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Brutally cold temperatures, windy conditions and dangerously cold wind chills expected through Friday night. The combination of light/dry snow and windy conditions will create the possibility of blowing snow and limited visibility outdoors.

The entire state is covered by a Wind Chill Warning that will last through 12 PM on Saturday. Winter Weather Advisory will continue through Thursday evening in eastern and central areas and 6 AM Friday for western Nebraska.

A few flurries will still be possible on Thursday. We will generally see cloud cover move out of the area and leave to partly to mostly clear skies by the evening hours. It will be a very cold and windy day and that will continue over the next several days. By the time Friday rolls around we will still see windy and cold conditions, but we will get more sunshine.

This snow is expected to be very light and fluffy due in part to the very cold conditions, because of this, it will be easily blown around with the very strong winds. The strong winds - with gusts between 30 to 50 MPH - will persist through the day on Thursday and Friday before finally weakening into the weekend. That being said, blowing snow can cause reduced visibility and therefore cause hazardous driving conditions.

The combination of a light and fluffy snow and the very strong winds are expecting to lead to difficult, dangerous, and at times, impossible travel conditions across the coverage area Thursday morning. Even after the snow is done falling, areas of blowing snow will lead to reduced visibility and hazardous travel conditions on Thursday, Friday, and even into early Saturday morning. If you have to travel during any of these times, please make sure you have the proper winter survival kit in your vehicle. If you can avoid traveling, it would be best to postpone or move travel plans into the holiday weekend.

That’s just the snow and the wind, on top of that, brutally cold conditions with dangerous and potentially deadly wind chills are expected through this upcoming weekend. As mentioned above, Wind Chill Warnings are in place across the entire state through 12 PM CST Saturday. Wind chills Thursday morning will likely range between -30° to -60° across the state. Frostbite and hypothermia can develop in just minutes in conditions that cold. Wind chills are expected to stay WELL below zero - likely between about -10° and -40° all the way through Christmas morning with “feels like” temperatures finally becoming a bit more tolerable and likely above zero for many by Christmas afternoon.

Again, if you have to be out in conditions like this, make sure you’re dressed properly with several layers and as much skin covered as you can.

As far as actual temperatures are concerned, look for low temperatures most mornings through Christmas morning to be in the single digits both above and below zero with the coldest mornings coming on Thursday and Friday with lows ranging between -10° and -25°. Daytime high temperatures will be very cold as well. Thursday will be the coldest, with daytime high temperatures below zero anywhere from 2 below to ten below as HIGH temperatures. Daytime highs finally begin to rebound on Christmas Day with forecast highs in the upper teens to mid 20s in eastern Nebraska with mid to upper 40s in the west. As we look toward next week... relief is on the way with warming temperatures into the 30s and 40s...ABOVE ZERO.

Copyright 2022 KOLN. All rights reserved.