forecast

FIRST ALERT: Arctic Cold Takes Hold Tuesday With Subzero Wind Chills

Limit time outside, protect exposed skin, drink plenty of liquids and try not to exercise outside in these stinging cold temperatures

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Some bitter air slipped in under cover of the clouds and a gusty northwest wind overnight. We’re left to pick up the pieces this morning.

Wind chills will hover between 5 and 15 below early on as the winds blow from the northwest at 15-20 mph. Mercifully, winds ease later this afternoon, allowing temperatures to slightly “recover” to the mid-teens.

It’s a small victory, but it beats the numbingly cold blasts in years past when the wind would howl for hours on end. In any event, the rules are the same with extreme heat (ironically): limit time outside, protect exposed skin, drink plenty of liquids, and try not to exercise outside. The one glaringly obvious exception: dress in (many) layers.

We’re only in it for a day. The recovery actually begins tonight. After dipping back to the single digits and teens, the temperatures slowly creep up through the night as the winds turn and the clouds roll in with a warm front.

Ironically (final one of this blog), we should find ourselves near 20 degrees by Wednesday morning. The warming continues into the afternoon as we surge past the freezing mark and land in the upper 30s. Not a bad 24 hour turn around, eh?

It will be a bit milder on Thursday before a large ocean storm yanks back the cold for Friday. Some flakes may fly on the Capes (or in eastern Mass. in general) as this storm zips by. In its wake, the deep freeze returns for the first half of the weekend, and only slowly recovers by Sunday as we eye another storm system spinning up nearby.

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