The latest Storm Tracker Forecast from chief meteorologist Steve Caporizzo & meteorologist Matt Mackie:

The tremendous cold streaming in behind last night’s cold front is here in a big way. Temperatures have been dropping all afternoon, and are now beginning to dip below zero in parts of our area.

But the temperatures only tell half the story. The winds have been incredibly strong at times, with a gust of 55 miles per hour recorded at Albany. Across the area, many more have gusted to 40 or higher.

The net result of the cold plus the wind is, of course, the wind chill – we have seen values as low as minus 40 in parts of the Adirondacks. Albany & surrounding towns have seen minus 20 or so. Expect those numbers to drop even more as we go into the overnight hours.

By 11 PM or midnight, wind chills could be in the neighborhood of minus 30 in the Capital District and minus 50 up north.

Temperatures will be at their lowest around daybreak on Saturday. We expect a low of minus 12 in Albany. That being said, winds will have backed off a little. Wind chill values look to be similar, or ever so slightly higher than they were around midnight.

The weather improves somewhat by Saturday afternoon. Temperatures rise into the double digits and the wind will calm down. Still very cold, roughly 20 degrees below average for the day, but more bearable for sure.

Temperatures are much, much more comfortable for Sunday and into the work week. Expect highs in the 40’s! A few showers are possible Wednesday morning, with a little more widespread rain in the cards for Thursday.

The long range outlook shows a slight drop in temperature for the following weekend, with some models hinting at a period of wintry mix followed by snow showers.