There’s not a lot to talk about in the weather department besides the cold. We have a wind chill advisory up for this morning and if you are out waiting for public transportation or need to be outside for any extended period you’ll want your warmest clothing.

I’ve been holding off walking the dog until 1 or 2 in the afternoon when it’s a little bit warmer.

Wind chill readings will be dangerously cold Thursday morning if you are outside without proper clothing for an extended period of time.

There’s a little energy in the atmosphere which may clip the region Friday for a few snow showers. Then a storm system passes well to our east Saturday. A week ago it appeared this could be a snowstorm for us, but the arctic air is just too powerful and the flow from the northwest will keep the storm out to sea. I don’t see any chances of snow storms until late next week.

A bit of snow, but nothing significant is possible Friday.

Winter is one of those seasons that some of us embrace and some of us just get through. Part of winter is the cold arctic air and, in the same way summer heat waves can eventually wear down even the most ardent of beach goers, day after day of sub-freezing temperatures can also be a bit much for the cold season enthusiast.

Today will be a record breaking day with the highs predicted to stay below 10 degrees. That would be the coldest daily maximum temperature recorded in Portland for Dec. 28. The current record is 11 degrees. Many other areas of Maine will also break records for the coldest high temperature today. Portland’s record low today is -13.

Though this is going to be a very long stretch of cold weather, we would need to get all the way to the end of January without breaking freezing to break the all-time record for 30 consecutive days without seeing melting temperatures. That isn’t likely. Early cold like this also happened in 1989 when most of December never reached a high of 33 degrees.

The top longest stretches of freezing weather in Portland since records began. (Dave Epstein)

I don’t see any snowstorms in sight until perhaps later next week. As you know, an extended forecast in the middle of winter has less validity after four or five days. That said, I do see some break in the cold by mid-January. It won’t be beach weather, but will be more comfortable to enjoy outdoor winter activities without the heaviest of heavy winter clothing.

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