The cold air is on track and will arrive in Colorado Wednesday PM, plunging temperatures below zero across northern and eastern Colorado, with wind chill values approach -50°F or colder at times across the plains.

A Wind Chill Watch has been posted for the entire region beginning Wednesday evening and extending through Friday morning, here are some helpful tips for the cold from our friends at the National Weather Service in Boulder:

We've received questions about travel and conditions across the country, so let's take a look at that as we go through Christmas Day here and in the attached video below. Let's not forget Alaska:

All that cold air is headed south.

The latest temperature anomaly forecast map from the GFS shows the dramatic invasion of cold air that will overwhelm the eastern two thirds of the country later this week:

This map shows where frost and freezing conditions are likely this week, that's nearly the entire country!

Digging in a bit deeper, the coldest of temperatures will be focusing in counties with these latest alerts as of Tuesday morning.

From the WPC's latest discussion:

The aforementioned repository of dangerous arctic air over the northern Plains and western Canada is expected to dump southward following behind the system crossing the Pacific Northwest today.

Subzero readings with minimum values nearing minus 20 and minus 30 degrees over the northern tier will enter into the northern Great Basin, northern Rockies, and much of the Great Plains by Thursday. Combined with wind gusts up to 60 mph, widespread wind chill values could drop to around minus 40 degrees throughout the central and north-central United States.

This level of cold can be life threatening and lead to frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes. Wind Chill Warnings and Watches currently span across 17 states from Washington to Texas.

And specific for the Denver area, the latest alert text from NWS Boulder includes a a rather remarkable statement: "as low as 55 below zero!":

...WIND CHILL WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING...  

* WHAT...Dangerously cold wind chills possible, as low as 55 below zero.  

* WHERE...All of northeast and north central Colorado below 6000 feet, including the Denver metro area.  

* WHEN...From Wednesday evening through Friday morning.  

* IMPACTS...The dangerously cold wind chills could cause frostbite   on exposed skin in as little as 5 minutes.

Wind chill values in this range would put us near record territory, and certainly on the list for some of the coldest on record:

This video takes you through the impacts day by day through Christmas.

Tracking the cold
In the maps below we focus on the coldest moments for Colorado (being Thursday and Friday).

Here are Thursday's "high" temperatures

Friday's low temperatures

And then Friday's high temperatures, which rebound a bit for the west.

If you are curious how this compares to the 2021 event to our south, NWS Austin/San Antonio sums it up for Texas:

For Colorado, this looks like it's likely to be one of the coldest outbreaks we have had in quite some time:

The cold is forecast to arrive to northeast Colorado Wednesday afternoon and evening. Prior to the front's arrival, downsloping winds should push many of us along the urban corridor into the mid and upper 40s. Arctic fronts tend to always arrive quicker than advertised, but as of this writing it looks like the front initial will be pushing into Colorado shortly after noon on Wednesday, then through Denver between 4 and 7pm.

We'll expand on the snowfall forecast in our next update, but for the urban corridor it still looks like at least light snow accumulation is likely Wednesday evening and into Wednesday night behind the front. As the jet moves overhead Wednesday evening we expect pockets of heavier banded snowfall to develop, with several inches possible under these bands. Between the snow and cold, travel will not be advised Wednesday evening and overnight.

Here are our latest gamblers:

And our last update also discussing the snow potential:

Arctic blast: Dangerous cold remains on track for Denver & Colorado by Thursday

Potentially record setting cold is on tap for the Denver metro area in just a few days. Thursday’s existing record low is -25° from 1990, and Friday’s is -17° also from 1990. In data through Monday morning, it appears we will rival that Friday record-low temperature. Here’s more on the historical …

Matt MakensDec 19, 2022Weather5280