It was not long ago, mid December, that we had a string of about 4 days in a row with high temps in the 50’s. It seemed like winter was skipping us this year, and no one was the worse.

That changed last week when the winter switch was clearly thrown. I drove to Detroit for my family’s Christmas gathering last Friday and drove with snow falling for the first five hours. On the way back Sunday, I hit two lake effect snow bands on I-94, where cars were stopped for no apparent reason – other than terrible visibilty – causing me to go skidding on the snowy shoulders to avoid rear ending ’em.

I made it back for our usual New Year’s Eve dinner tradition with hockey friends, but didn’t want to brave the frigid temps to go downtown to watch the Peoria balldrop. I wasn’t alone in that thought.

After a little break in the teens today, we’re heading back into freeze your nutz off weather, with a wind chill advisory in effect from tonight, Wednesday 8p, until noon tomorrow, Thursday.  Expect single digit high temps Thurs. and Fri. before the mercury rebounds on Sunday, though some snow could accompany the rising temps.

So keep your skin covered outdoors, your tires properly inflated and resist cabin fever, which kids and grandkids are surely dealing with right now. At least we’re not going to experience a “bomb cyclone,” which the Northeast is expecting this weekend, the equivalent of a winter hurricane!

Doc Watson