When a Weather Outlook begins with the words “life threatening,” it needs to be taken seriously. Those are the words the National Weather Service is using to warn about dangerously cold temperatures and wind chills that have descended upon the Minot region.

Today’s high temperature is expected to be about 16 below zero. Minot and other locations in the state may set records for what the NWS terms “high lows,” a sort of misery measurement for daytime high temperatures that aren’t very high at all.

For Bottineau and Rolla, and elsewhere in the state, the high temperature today is forecast to be -18 with wind chill values as low as -50. Minot’s wind chill factor today is much better, only

-45. Yikes!

No matter. Northern North Dakota is always warmer than the community known as the “Icebox”, International Falls, Minnesota. That’s the place on the map many point to while saying it could be colder. Not this time. International Falls is expected to warm up to -12 today, several degrees warmer than Minot.

Well, it must be colder in Alaska. Not today. Anchorage, Alaska will see a balmy 24 degrees. Fairbanks, an interior Alaska city with a history of sub-zero temperatures, is expected to have a daytime high today of -4.

In weather that warm the Green Bay Packers would practice outside. Incidentally, the famous “Ice Bowl” was played in Green Bay on New Year’s Eve in 1967 with a gametime temperature of -13. As for going outside, be aware of the risks.

“Make sure you have your head and hands covered. Any exposed skin can freeze in 10 minutes or less,” warned Todd Hamilton, Bismarck NWS meteorologist. “Dress in layers. The more the better. This weekend it is going to be dangerously cold.”

Staying indoors will be the rule for most people today, even if they feel a bit trapped, much like the cold weather system that is gripping the region.

“It is Arctic air that a lot of times is trapped in the area and is spilling down into the Northern Plains,” explained Hamilton. “Typically it happens a few times during the winter every year, certainly this year.”

No kidding. Tonight’s lows are expected to sink to ridiculous levels. Minot could reach -26, Rolla -28 and Bottineau -30, and that’s without wind chills. That’s what many refer to as a “deep freeze”. Give that some thought. Your family freezer is much warmer.

A normal high for Minot today, according to NWS data, is 21 degrees above zero. The average low is plus four. Today’s temperatures won’t even come close to normal. So when can we expect a reprieve from this silly cold spell?

“Possibly by next Thursday or Friday we’ll see some 20’s in the southwest part of the state and maybe teens in the north,” said Hamilton.

Until then the region must deal with the worst of the “deep freeze”, primarily today and Sunday. By Monday, New Year’s Day, if the forecast proves true, the below zero daytime temperatures will give way to a much more desirable one above. That’s a full three degrees better than International Falls! Enjoy.