Omaha awoke to -20

If you want to warm up, you might consider heading to northernmost Alaska; or to Thule, Greenland; or even Moscow.

None of those places was as cold Monday morning as Omaha.

Shortly after daybreak, the mercury plunged to 20 degrees below zero at Eppley Airfield.

And there's more chilling news ahead.

Snowfall is forecast to resume tonight, with about 4 inches possible.

Winds are expected to pick up Wednesday afternoon, meaning blizzard conditions are briefly possible. Blowing snow could limit visibility for the Wednesday evening and Thursday morning rush hours.

After a slight respite today and Wednesday, dangerously cold conditions are expected to last until Saturday, according to the National Weather Service and AccuWeather, The World-Herald's weather consultant.

Once the arctic air arrives Wednesday evening, forecasters say, it's likely that temperatures won't rise above zero until Saturday. By Friday morning, wind chills could plunge to 30 below, or worse.

In places like Moscow, Thule, and Barrow, Alaska, the lows on Monday ranged from 10 below to 10 above zero. The forecast for Reykjavik, Iceland — highs in the 30s all week — looks like a walk on the beach compared to Nebraska and Iowa.

Despite all the cold and misery, the only significant record the metro area has broken so far this winter was for December snow, said Rick Chermok, a meteorologist with the weather service office in Valley. December's 24.6 inches was the most on weather service records dating to 1948.

According to Chermok:

* December 2009 ranked as only the 22nd-coldest December for Omaha.

* Monday's low of 20 below was three degrees shy of the Jan. 4 record — 23 below zero in 1884.

* It doesn't appear that this week's forecast string of below-zero nights will top February 1996, when overnight lows dropped below zero for seven straight days. And the 1996 string ranked only 20th for cold spells, Chermok said.

Record or not, it will be dangerously cold, Chermok and others say.

On Monday afternoon, the weather service convened a conference call for eastern Nebraska emergency managers and roads officials.

“I expect a lot of trouble with this system in terms of slippery roads, low visibility,” said Daniel Nietfeld, a meteorologist in the weather service's Valley office.

“But the snowfall with this storm is likely to be the least dangerous component. It will probably be the winds and cold air that will be a danger,” Nietfeld said.

“This storm poses a real threat of frostbite and hypothermia. I would encourage people to stay indoors.”

The snow that will begin falling Tuesday night will be light and fluffy, Nietfeld said. Once the winds kick up Wednesday, blowing snow will create problems with visibility, drifts and possible road closures.

While weather forecasts are subject to error, Nietfeld said the computer models are coming into agreement over this one.

The arctic air is riding into the Midlands on the jet stream plunging down a north-to-south line, rather than its typical west-to-east path.

Nietfeld is holding out a glimmer of hope for better days.

“Next Monday, we should at least get that arctic air pushed out of here, and we may end up with temperatures closer to freezing, which is at least warmer than we've seen,” he said.

Contact the writer:

444-1102, nancy.gaarder@owh.com

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