An Extreme Cold Warning – the first one of its kind for Michigan – has been issued for the western section of the Upper Peninsula. It’s a section of the state where the wind chill has already plummeted to 40 degrees below zero in at least one spot today, and daytime high temperatures will struggle to get above zero on Monday and Tuesday.
Nearly all of Michigan is already blanketed by a Cold Weather Advisory, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). In the Lower Peninsula and eastern end of the Upper Peninsula, daytime highs Monday and Tuesday are expected in the single digits. But the incredibly bitter Arctic air will make wind chills – the “feels like” temperature – drop to 25 below zero, or even lower, in some areas.
This is dangerously cold air for people as well as pets. Frostbite can occur in 30 minutes or less when skin is exposed to air that cold.
But the west end of the Upper Peninsula is forecast to get the extreme end of this Siberian Express – the bitterly cold air originating in Siberia that is already flowing across Michigan.
The Extreme Cold Warning has been issued from later Monday into mid-day Tuesday.
“The dangerously cold wind chills as low as 40 below zero could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes,” the NWS meteorologists in Marquette said. “Frostbite and hypothermia will occur if unprotected skin is exposed to these temperatures. An extended period of freezing temperatures could cause ruptured water pipes.”
Iron Mountain, on the west end of the U.P., already had a recorded wind chill of 40 below zero early this morning, the NWS team said.
By early Tuesday, wind chills as low as -45 are forecast.
“Homeowners and property managers should take action now for this cold period, especially if past very cold periods have yielded impacts,” the NWS team said in its forecast notes today. “Ensure your Winter Car Survival Kit is up-to-date. This weekend through Tuesday, limit time outdoors for you and your pets, and check on vulnerable neighbors.”
This cold air is also coming with snowfall in West Michigan, and blowing, gusty snow in the Upper Peninsula. Michigan State Police announced earlier today that the M-28 state highway has been shut down in both directions between Marquette and Munising because blowing snow off Lake Superior is causing white-out conditions.
First appeared on www.mlive.com