Plunging temperature and high winds Thursday afternoon

Prepare for a shocking arrival of wind chills, seriously high winds and two nights of damaging hard freezes. Beginning at noon today, a wind advisory goes into effect as north winds could gust above 40 mph. A hard freeze warning and wind chill warning begin at 6 p.m. meaning that wind chill values could drop into the dangerous single digits tonight along with the start of a major freeze that could keep many areas below freezing for more than 36 hours. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will both begin with freeing temps and chilly afternoons. The good news with this freeze as compared to the the freeze of February 2021, is that this one should be very dry, so there is a very low risk of icy roads. Next week, high temps could reach the low 70s.