photo by: National Weather Service Topeka

Wind chills below zero are expected throughout the weekend in Lawrence starting Friday, and the National Weather Service Topeka has increased the likelihood that Douglas County sees snow accumulation due to a large winter storm affecting much of the eastern portion of the country.

Lawrence residents will join much of the rest of the country in bracing for a winter storm this weekend, as meteorologists expect a higher chance of snow accumulation along with bitterly cold wind chills.

Forecasts of the storm, which is expected to hit Friday, anticipate about 230 million people facing temperatures of 20 degrees or lower and around 150 million are likely to be hit by snow and ice, according to an AP report.

Although Lawrence appeared earlier in the week to be spared of some of the precipitation, Jenifer Prieto, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Topeka, said the NWS saw a “slight shift northward” of the storm in its projections, leading to Lawrence expecting to see an accumulation of snow starting on Friday evening.

Just how much snow is still up in the air, however. Prieto said that the storm system has not yet come ashore, which means there is “definitely still some uncertainty” for the exact snowfall parts of Northeast Kansas can expect, but the NWS has issued a Winter Storm Watch in Anderson, Coffey, Franklin, Lyon and Osage counties from Friday evening through late Saturday night.

Prieto said that by Thursday or Friday, the NWS will be able to have a “better range” on what level of snowfall is expected, but there is a possibility that Lawrence can see “several inches of snow.”

Some parts of the country are expected to see an accumulation of ice, but Prieto said that will not be the case in Kansas, with the projections suggesting that the furthest north that ice could come from the storm is in Oklahoma.

Along with the snowfall, Lawrence will be hit with some incredibly low temperatures. Prieto said on Friday morning, the forecasted wind chill is expected to be negative 5 to 10 degrees, with not much of a chance of warming up.

“We have not seen this type of cold in at least a year,” Prieto said.

On Saturday, Prieto said the high is expected to be 5 degrees, but wind chills can be “as much as 15 degrees below.” That cold weather “doesn’t let up,” with negative wind chills expected through much of Sunday and into Monday morning.