Today: Thursday is going to be the last somewhat warmer day across the Milwaukee area for a bit. West-southwest winds and early peaks of sun in the morning will help temperatures rise through the high single digits and low teens before topping out in the mid teens for an afternoon high with winds becoming more westerly around 16 mph sustained and gust around 35 mph. Skies will cloud over quickly in the morning and into the early afternoon again ahead of a quick moving weather maker that will move through Milwaukee in the afternoon. A low pressure system dragging a cold front behind it will cut through Wisconsin from the northwest. This front will have a 60% chance to drop a little light snow over the Milwaukee area around 3pm. Accumulation will range from little no none or just a few tenths of an inch. All snow will come to an end around the evening commute and we will be left with overcast skies. Furthermore this front will really drop our temperatures going into the evening and overnight hours.
Overnight: Going into evening and overnight hours winds will turn to the northwest due to the passing of the aforementioned cold front. Sustained speeds should be around 15 mph, but gusts could be close to 40 mph in the late evening. Due to the strong winds temperatures will drop substantially over the area with lows settling in the mid teens over the Milwaukee area. This has prompted the national weather service to issue a cold weather warning which will go into effect at midnight across the Milwaukee area and lead into Friday morning.
Tomorrow: The coldest air of the year will arrive in the Milwaukee area Friday morning. The cause of these harsh wind chills and temperatures is an area of strong high pressure that will sink in from the northwest Friday morning and stick around until Monday. With clear skies Friday morning temps will be in the mid negative teens paired with sustained northwest winds sustained around 15 mph and even higher gusts, feel like temps will be in the high negative 30’s. Temperatures and wind chill will improve throughout the day after Friday morning and early afternoon. The national weather service will continue their cold weather warning until 1:00 pm. However, another cold weather watch is in effect for the Milwaukee area from 1:00 pm Friday to 12:00 pm Saturday which may lead to a warning for the same time frame. Other weather conditions on Friday will feature mostly sunny skies and high temperatures factoring out the wind chill only getting to the negative single digits and wind keeping from the northwest around 15 mph in the afternoon. Finally, through the day we might see some snow flakes flying in from Lake Michigan. No accumulation is expected from this, but it will snow from time to time on Friday. Going into the evening and overnight hours temperatures will tumble again, settling in the low negative teens with winds beginning to relax a bit, sustained speeds will be around 10 mph still from the northwest with skies becoming overcast, but clearing again by Saturday morning.
Extended: Cold weather will continue through most of the extended forecast, and perhaps some active weather by Saturday afternoon. Saturday will start out much like Friday with mostly sunny skies and wind under 5 mph from the northwest. Temperatures won’t rebound all that much with highs only getting to about 5 above factoring out the wind chill. We here in Wisconsin are watching a massive southern storm system which will slowly creep north and east. Saturday afternoon skies will cloud over and the Milwaukee area could get clipped by this system which would cause a wide spread 1-3 inches across the area. Besides this possible precipitation Saturday will remain cloudy most of the day because of this weather maker approaching from the south. Overnight Saturday temperatures will stay in the low positive single digits without factoring the wind chill and wind will be under 5 mph from the north, which will be welcomed news after Friday harsh conditions. Sunday and Monday, Milwaukee will slowly begin to climb out of this deep freeze. High for both days will be in the lower double digits again, however lows will still keep to around 0 during the overnight hours. High pressure will start to move to the south Sunday afternoon, but with no major systems on the way the strong area of high pressure will still have control over Milwaukee’s weather while it moves south which will keep our skies mostly sunny during the day and clear at night. Winds Sunday through Monday will remain calm (5 mph and under) mainly out of the north until Monday afternoon when wind will begin to change to the west and eventually to the southwest by Monday night with speeds increasing to around 10 mph because of a new cold front approaching from the northwest Tuesday morning.
