COLD SNAP! Gusty breeze adding to the chill today!
Bundle up! The gusty breeze is adding to the chill today, making it the coldest wind chills of the season.
ABC11 Meteorologist Don "Big Weather" Schwenneker says temperatures are starting out in the 20s across Central North Carolina. Those temperatures are some of the coldest of the season thus far and could be the coldest we have seen since that big Arctic outbreak during Jan. 7 through Jan. 10 to start this year.
Temperatures will have a hard time rising any higher than the lower 40s along with the gusty breeze adding to the chill. It will be a dry, cold air mass though with plenty of sunshine.
"A low pressure area will move southeast into the Ohio Valley today then move along or near the Mason-Dixon Line tonight," Schwenneker said. "The trailing cold front will move through Central North Carolina tomorrow morning."
Milder temperatures ahead of this front will take readings into the lower 50s. The front will lack enough moisture for any rain, and there will still be more sunshine than clouds tomorrow. Another surge of cooler,and very dry, air will follow Thursday night and Friday.
That wind chill can be brutal for children walking to the bus stop or waiting for the school bus.
It's best to let them wait in the car for their bus to arrive. Carolina Kids Pediatrics has more information on how to keep your kids safe in the cold.
Shelters across the area have put out white flag warnings, a signal to all who need shelter from the cold that they will make room for you.
Over the weekend, the Durham Rescue Mission took in more than 430 people during Operation Warm Shelter, and they expect to welcome even more Tuesday night.
"This is a deadly weather," said the Durham Rescue Mission's Rob Tart.
For some families with homes but no heat, their answers came from the Helping Hand Mission in Raleigh.
"I hope this makes a difference," said Sylvia Wiggins with the Helping Hand Mission, as she helped deliver three space heaters to Alexandria Fields and her two small girls.
"This means a lot to me," said Fields, "I lost my job recently so I wasn't able to afford heaters, so this is a blessing, a true blessing."
For some families with homes but maybe no heat, their answers came in the form of the Helping Hand Mission in Raleigh.
"I hope this makes a difference," said Sylvia Wiggins with the Helping Hand Mission, as she helped deliver three space heaters to Alexandria Fields and her two small girls.
"This means a lot to me," said Fields, "I lost my job recently so I wasn't able to afford heaters so this is a blessing, a true blessing."
With temperatures below freezing, people tend to turn to extreme solutions. Before Wiggins and her team knocked on her door, Fields said they were about to turn the oven on in the kitchen to warm the home, which can be a fire or carbon monoxide hazard.
