NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — With cold weather on the horizon for Arkansas, I bet all of us wish we were set up somewhere warm— unfortunately, we've got some freezing temps to look forward to.
Dennis Cavanaugh and the team at the National Weather Service's Little Rock Forecast Office said that those numbers don't look great.
"It's gonna get really cold, yeah," Cavanaugh explained. "The cold air plus the very strong winds, that's going to lead to some different impacts than what Arkansans are used to."
Temperatures are expected to be in the single digits with wind chills below zero until the end of the week.
However that cold isn't just annoying, it can be dangerous.
"As much as possible, we want people to spend their time indoors when the temperature is down in the single digits, in particular," Dr. Robert Hopkins at UAMS, said.
Dr. Hopkins said that issues can happen quickly, and there are some pretty common signs of frostbite to look out for.
Any exposed skin that's pale or red, numbness in those areas, blistering skin, or stiffening muscles are signs that you need to get out of the cold.
"We really need to keep an eye out for our older adults in our families," Dr. Hopkins said. "And we need to keep an eye out for children who often don't necessarily pay attention to those filters."
That's why Cavanaugh encouraged people to be prepared ahead of time so that their holidays end up going smoothly.
"You want to get you and your family to a safe place more so than sticking to your exact schedule that you had planned," Cavanaugh said. "We're just hoping the message gets to the people that need to hear it so they can prepare for this cold air moving in, and we can keep everybody safe."