Wind chill advisory in effect from Thursday night through Friday morning

Ken Palmer
Lansing State Journal

LANSING −Dangerously cold air will settle over southern lower Michigan from Thursday night through Saturday morning, forecasters said.

The National Weather Service issued a wind chill advisory for 11 p.m. Thursday to 9 a.m. Friday, saying wind-chill values could plunge to as low as 15 degrees below zero. People should dress warmly if they have to go outside over the next couple of days, forecasters said.

Actual air temperatures will fall into the low single digits on Thursday and Friday nights, but gusty west or northwest winds will make it feel quite a bit colder than that.

Friday will stay cold all day, with highs of around 12 degrees, the weather service said. Warmer air will settle back in during the day on Saturday, with highs climbing back into the 30s.

This week's frigid weather is a reality check after weeks of unseasonably mild conditions.

Lansing's average temperature in January was 32.2 degrees. That's 8.3 degrees above normal and ranks among the five warmest Januarys on record, the weather service said. Precipitation was slightly below normal for the month at 1.94 inches.

Lansing city officials on Tuesday activated their Code Blue extreme cold weather plan, opening warming shelters from 5 p.m. Tuesday through 8 a.m. Sunday.

Contact Ken Palmer atkpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.