Staying very cold into Christmas weekend

COLUMBUS, Mississippi (WCBI) – The well-advertised cold has arrived and will stick around through the holiday weekend.

FRIDAY: Despite returning sunshine, highs will struggle only into the upper teens to lower 20s for highs with gusty northwest winds. Wind chills will gradually rise above zero but will remain in the single digits all day.

FRIDAY NIGHT: Winds will relax somewhat with lows still dropping into the single digits to lower 10s. Wind chills yet again will dip below zero.

WEEKEND: Sunshine will stick around for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day along with the bitter cold. Highs will stay in the 20s Saturday but could eventually rise above freezing for some Christmas afternoon. Each morning will see temperatures in the 10s.

NEXT WEEK: Clouds increase Monday ahead of a clipper-like system diving southward out of Canada. Moisture looks limited with this system, but we’ll watch for potentially light wintry precip making it this far south. Beyond Monday, a pronounced warming trend settles in as highs reach the 60s by Thursday.