Winter returns with frigid fury

NEGAUNEE TOWNSHIP — Winter weather has hit the U.P. with full force since late Saturday. First, it was a bout of fresh snow; now, it’s bitter cold.

Temperatures were at or below negative 10 degrees in many areas of the Upper Peninsula leading right up to the noon hour today. They remained below zero into the afternoon.

“We could still see some wind chills of 25 to 30 below zero in the morning, but not necessarily as bad as it was this morning,” National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Salzwedel said. “We had some wind chills that were pretty close to 40 (below).”

The National Weather Service had a wind chill warning out until 1:00 this afternoon. However, temperatures could still reach 15 to 20 below zero tonight in areas like Dickinson, Iron and Gogebic counties, with wind chills similar to today.

“The cold air is pretty much all the way down to the western Gulf Coast all the way through Texas,” Salzwedel said. “There may be some moderation at the beginning of next week, but we’re just going to expect cold temperatures throughout the remainder of this week.”

Most U.P. school districts cancelled classes today because of the severe weather. As we hear about districts that cancel classes for Tuesday, we’ll have them for you right here on abc10up.com .