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Bitter cold will end Saturday
Shivering area residents only have to suffer for one more day.
The bitter cold that has gripped the upper Midwest for three days is finally moving out, with temperatures expected to get back to normal this upcoming weekend.
Schools across Wisconsin, including Madison public schools, were closed for a second straight day Friday, thanks to a wind chill warning from the National Weather Service, issued on Wednesday afternoon, that predicted wind chills in the 30-45 below zero range both Wednesday and Thursday night.
While wind chills never reached that level in the Madison area, the warning prompted school officials throughout Dane County to follow set procedure established after last year's wicked winter, and call off classes whenever a wind chill warning is issued from the National Weather Service.
A wind chill warning is issued by the weather service when wind chills are expected to be colder than -35.
As of 5 a.m. Friday, the air temperature in Madison was -15 with a calm wind.
The coldest wind chills in the state as of 5 a.m. were in Superior and La Crosse at -38, while the coldest actual temperature in the state was in Sparta at -33.
The high temperature in Madison is expected to top out at 7 degrees on Friday, said Weather Central meteorologist Kelly Curran, after the thermometer stayed south of the zero mark on Thursday with a high of -2.
Winds which had been out of the northwest since mid-week are switching to the southwest later Friday, bringing warmer air to the region.
Skies will turn cloudy later Friday with light snow developing Friday night into Saturday. Total accumulation is expected to be 1-3 inches.
Highs on Saturday and Sunday should be in the 20s, with a gradual warmup sending highs into the upper-30s to low-30s for the balance of the week.
Road conditions across Wisconsin were in pretty good shape Friday morning, with only a few slippery stretches reported.
Thursday's high temperature in Madison was -2, which was 27 degrees below normal and 56 degrees below the record high of 54 for Jan. 15 set in 1953.
The high was not close to the all-time coldest high for Jan. 15 of -13, set in 1972.
The low temperature on Thursday was -15, 24 degrees below normal and 15 degrees warmer than the record low of -30 for Jan. 15 set in 1963.
No snow was recorded at the airport on Thursday, so the monthly total stayed at 9.0 inches and the seasonal total stayed at 53.7 inches.
Last year, 0.1 inches of snow fell on Jan. 15, bringing the seasonal snowfall in the record setting winter of 2007-08 up to 40.4 inches.
Mike DeVries/The Capital Times
A man walks in the frigid temperatures near the Capitol Square Thursday in Madison.
