The National Weather Service is warning residents of eastern Pennsylvania that bitter, record-breaking Arctic cold is on the way.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the NWS announced that the arctic air will arrive “in full force” Thursday night and Friday, and that it has issued a wind chill watch for the Lehigh Valley for the same time period.
Temperatures Thursday night are expected to drop to as low as five degrees below zero, and wind chills could drop to 25 degrees below zero, due to northwest winds gusting up to 35 mph.
“The dangerously cold conditions may lead to frostbite and hypothermia if precautions are not taken,” the statement said. “Water pipes that are marginally near freezing will freeze solid Thursday night and then damage will develop in the subsequent thaw.”
Heavy snow showers and squalls accompanying the arrival of the Arctic front late Wednesday could result in “brief very poor visibility and quickly snow-covered roads, which will lead to stretches of suddenly hazardous travel,” the NWS said in a separate statement issued Wednesday.
A wintry mix of precipitation is possible over the weekend, according to the NWS forecast for Hellertown.