Welcome to the arctic tundra! It's been a nasty Friday, with wind chills -20 to -25 throughout the entire day. The high was a paltry 4 at midnight. Since then, temperatures have hovered near zero. Winds have been ferocious throughout the day, with 20-30mph gusts. In addition to all of that, a narrow band of heavy lake effect snow developed and produced whiteout conditions in Southern Oneida and Herkimer County Friday evening.

The record lowest high temperature will likely fall for two consecutive days. Both records were ironically set in the same year too - 1996. The record low on Sunday could fall as well (-18 in 1940).

Overnight lows on Friday will be capped between -10 and -20 due to cloud cover and wind.  On Saturday night, clearing skies and light winds will help temperatures fall farther to -20 to -30.  Sunday morning is expected to be one of the coldest nights of the season.

Believe it or not, our weather warms up abruptly heading into next week.  Still cold on Sunday, with highs in the teens.  Light snow arrives Monday and Tuesday, with highs in the 30s!  A significant shift in the weather pattern will bring much milder temperatures to the region.  Highs will likely climb to near 40 by next Thursday with the potential for rain.  Hard to believe after the series of cold spells we've had.