The National Weather Service issued a wind chill advisory for our area from 8 p.m. Wednesday, December 11 to 9 a.m. Thursday, December 12, 2013.
The advisory was issued for the third consecutive night of bitter cold conditions with wind chill values expected to be more than ten degrees below zero.
A wind chill advisory means cold air and strong winds will combine to generate low wind chills that can produce frost bite and hypothermia.
“Teeth-chattering winds gusting close to 30 mph out of the northwest will slowly drop temperatures in the single digits during the afternoon hours,” according to StormTrack 8 Chief Meteorologist James Zahara.
Wind speeds were forecast to diminish to 10 to 15 miles per hour Wednesday afternoon as temperatures fall all afternoon.
The National Weather Service website said temperatures could range from one below to 11 degrees below zero late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning.
That cold blast was forecast to push wind chill readings between zero and 20 below zero Wednesday afternoon, and some could dip to 26 below zero Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
“Dangerous wind chills may result in frost bite in as little as 30 minutes if exposed skin is not protected,” the NWS advisory said.
The wind chill advisory area includes Buchanan, Delaware, Dubuque, Benton, Linn, Jones, Jackson, Iowa, Johnson, Cedar, Clinton, Muscatine, Scott, Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Carroll, Whiteside, Rock Island, Henry (Illinois), Bureau and Putnam counties.
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