Break out the short sleeves: New York City has warmed above freezing for two consecutive days!  OK, maybe don’t go that crazy, but enjoy the warm spell while it lasts — because the floor drops out from under us again this weekend. Get ready for some of the coldest wind chills we’ve faced so far this winter. Another blast of arctic air descends on the Northeast overnight Friday night. A cold front marks the leading edge of the bitter arctic air mass that will lock in through the weekend. It could come with some light snow during the overnight hours, but will bring little to no accumulation. The biggest issue with the onslaught of the cold air will be the wind that will come with it. Saturday temperatures will hold in the teens. Sustained winds will be 15-20 mph with gusts as high as 40 mph.  That means the wind chill will hover below zero throughout the day across most of the region. You’ll need to cover as much exposed skin as possible to avoid frost bite, which can set in on bare skin after just 30 minutes. The wind will continue to bite through early Sunday, so you’ll wake up Sunday morning to some of the coldest wind chills of the season: 5 to 10 degrees below zero in the city.  Winds will relax throughout the day on Sunday, so the wind chill will be much more tolerable – but still cold – during the afternoon. The most optimistic news in our long-range forecast is that this weekend may be the last deep, deep freeze we feel for a while. Next week we expect a return to above-freezing afternoon temperatures that may help to melt some of the big snow we got the last week of January. Looking out two weeks from now, the story remains the same: no new arctic blasts. Temperatures for most of the country are expected to be above normal, with the Northeast likely to feel near-normal temperatures.  ...read more read less