BOSTON (CBS) – Brrrrrrrr. If you stepped outside in the Boston area Wednesday it felt pretty darn cold. Temperatures locally were near 30 degrees with wind chills in the teens. Imagine if you can, taking 50-70 degrees off of those readings and that is what folks in the upper Midwest were dealing with today!

The airmass typically situated over the Arctic was literally displaced about 2,000 miles to the south right over places like Chicago and Minneapolis. Wind chills as low as -60! Just insane cold. This kind of cold causes frostbite nearly instantly or at best within a few minutes.

Thankfully, the core of that cold airmass is NOT headed here, but instead up into eastern Canada. Don’t get me wrong, it is gonna get pretty darn cold here but we are only getting fringed by this Polar Vortex over the next few days.

Let’s step through the cold and wind over the next few days:

Wednesday 11pm
Boston: 13 degrees, wind chill 0
Worcester: 3 degrees, wind chill -15

Thursday 7am
Boston: 5 degrees, wind chill -12
Worcester: -7 degrees, wind chill -20

Thursday Afternoon
Boston: high 16 degrees, wind chill 0
Worcester: high 10 degrees, wind chill -5

Friday (lighter winds)
Boston: low 8, high 25
Worcester: low -3, high 18

Over the weekend, we get back to near average temperatures, in the 30s. And as it looks right now, next week looks quite mild (January thaw in February?).

There will be a shift in pattern across the Country as the Jetstream takes a dip in the west and a ridge builds in the east. There could be several storms passing to our west next week (meaning rain) and there is a decent shot at temperatures rising in to the 50s for a few days!