An arctic air mass has taken hold of much of the country this week
A very cold air mass has moved in through much of the central and eastern United States. Arctic air has made its way all the down to the Gulf of Mexico. That will lead us to a cold night tonight and into Wednesday morning. The biggest question will be do we see a hard freeze in the northern areas.
The answer: it will be close. Most of the forecast models have temperatures down around 25-26 which, if they stay there long enough, would indicate a hard freeze. However a lot of these models have overestimated the cold in recent weeks. We also could see some cloud cover moving in which would help to keep temperatures above those levels. As it stands right now most of the north shore will get into the upper 20s. Projected lows range from 27-29. On the south shore we will get close to freezing around much of the area. Areas west of the lakes have the best chance of seeing the freezing mark. Either way, it will be cold Wednesday morning.
The main take away is if you have exposed faucets or pipes and are north of the I-12 corridor it may be a good idea to cover those just to be safe. Otherwise protect plants and pets through the night!
