By MINDY KEPFIELD

Staff writer

If you think you haven’t been this cold in decades, you might be right.

The 11-day cold snap blasting the county is the longest streak of freezing temperatures recorded in nearly 38 years, said Mick McGuire, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Wichita.

The big push of arctic air that set up shop over the Midwest and forced polar temperatures south is not going anywhere soon, he said.

Today and Thursday look like more of the same blustery, overcast winter weather the area has had this past week, with highs in the teens. But McGuire warns this weekend is projected to be way worse.

Friday morning, a reinforcing surge of cold air is expected to drive temperatures near 0, as the county is dusted with light snow. Highs will struggle to reach double digits.

“I am being optimistic and say it will be 10 degrees,” he said.

Saturday and Sunday may be a good day to stay inside as temperatures are expected to be brutally cold with single-digit high temperatures projected to plunge to 8 to 10 below zero.

“We are getting some interesting data,” McGuire said of this year’s freezing temperatures. “In this cold snap, we are expected to have 11 days of below-freezing weather in this area.”

“The longest stretch since we have kept records was for 18 days — that was in 1905.”