Deep freeze

COEUR d’ALENE — Bundle up.

Climatologist Cliff Harris said it could be 10 degrees below zero today, and as much as 20 below with the windchill factor.

The high might be 3 or 4 degrees.

And this is only day two of winter.

“This is probably the worst cold we’re going to see in the whole winter,” Harris said Wednesday.

Harris said this fall, between Sept. 21 to Dec. 20, was the coldest on record, with an average temperature of 35 degrees.

The previous lowest average fall temperature was 37 in 1935, 9 degrees under the average of 44 degrees.

“There’s no other year it was under 40,” Harris said.

The area has gone a record 45 straight days without even hitting 40 degrees.

“I can’t find any year we’ve got this long without one warm day,” Harris said.

It was also the second-snowiest fall on record, with 41.8 inches, second to 46.4 inches in 2010. Harris noted it only snowed 28 inches the rest of that winter.

“In a way, we’re hoping that’s the case this year,” he said.

Harris expects snow and rain on Christmas, and is calling for warmer days next week, with highs in the 40s and perhaps even reaching 50 degrees.

“That’s our January thaw in December,” he said.

That will melt much of the snow that’s been out for there for weeks and create a huge mess in streets and yards.

“It’s going to be miserable,” Harris said.