How cold did it get?

If you were out scraping your car windows between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Thursday in Lawrence, the thermometer read minus 6.

But, with the 8 mph wind, you were shivering under a wind chill effect of minus 21, said Matt Makens, 6News meteorologist.

“We haven’t been this cold for two years,” Makens said. “The last time it was this cold was minus 11 on Jan. 1, 2001.”

Thursday’s high will only reach 11 above. But a warming trend will start Friday, when the high gets up to 28, Makens said.

“It’s still cold, but it’s mild compared to where we are today,” he said.

The highs for the weekend also seem almost balmy compared to Thursday’s morning official low temperature of minus 7.

“Saturday will be 37 for the high. Sunday’s high will be 32,” Makens said. “Monday and Tuesday, the furnaces will have a little bit of a break. It will be in the 50s.”

The low overnight and early morning temperatures though the weekend will be in the upper teens to lower 20s, he said.

Makens said the minus 21 wind chill effect Thursday morning came when the temperature, which was minus 6, combined with an 8-mph wind.

The National Weather Service lifted its wind chill advisory for the Lawrence area at 10 a.m. Thursday.

“Just because that’s lifted, it doesn’t mean it’s getting that much warmer outside,” Makens said. “To the skin, there’s not that much difference between 10 above and 10 below. Cold is cold.”

Thursday morning was the coldest it reached so far in 2003, he said.

As cold as it was, it didn’t match the record low of minus 10 for Jan. 23, which was set in 1963 and 1983, he said.

¢ For the latest forecast, go to weather.lawrence.com and tune in at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to Sunflower Broadband Channel 6.

How does Lawrence compare with some Alaskan temperatures?

In Kotzebue, Alaska, which is a north of the Arctic circle, it was 9 degrees Thursday morning.

And Barrow, Alaska, which is the northernmost spot in the U.S., had a temperature of minus 5.