Lincoln headed for a bitterly cold Christmas

The winter solstice occurs on Wednesday, and Mother Nature wants you to remember it.

The National Weather Service is forecasting the coldest weather of the season for next week.

By Tuesday, Lincoln’s high temperatures are expected to reach only the teens, with lows at or below zero. By Thursday, the high in Lincoln is expected to be in the single digits.

The last time Lincoln saw sub-zero temperatures was in February, but the last time there was a day when temperatures didn’t drop into double digits was in February of 2021.

Normal temperatures in Lincoln in the week leading up to Christmas range from highs in the upper 30’s to lows in the teens.

The culprit is an Arctic air blast that is “transported straight out of Siberia,” said Johnathan Porter, Accuweather’s chief meteorologist.

The airmass will move into the northern Rocky Mountains and northern plains on Wednesday, Porter said in a news release, and could plunge all the way south to Texas.

The frigid air could result in the “coldest holiday season in decades” in many parts of the central and eastern US, he said.

The National Weather Service said Lincoln could see wind chills drop to minus 25 or less, while some areas farther north in Nebraska, like Norfolk, could see wind chills as low as minus 30.

“(Wind chill) levels Tuesday through Friday are in the dangerous category, where frostbite can occur on any exposed skin in less than 30 minutes,” the weather service said in a tweet.

Longer term forecasts will keep temperatures in the teens until Christmas. The only question is whether Lincoln will see measurable snow before Christmas.

The city recorded just a trace of snow Thursday, the fifth since early November, and has yet to record any measurable snow this season, defined as at least 0.1 inches.

Only eight times in recorded history has Lincoln entered December without measurable snow this late, and only twice has it made Christmas Day without snow.

The weather service is forecasting a “light” chance of snow for the city on Wednesday.