Marcus’ 4 a.m. Thursday forecast INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Bitter cold returns Friday as a winter storm approaches for the weekend. Today: We should enjoy at least one last quiet and not frigid day across Central Indiana for our Thursday. Look for mostly sunny skies but colder temperatures compared to Wednesday. It also will be a bit in gusty at times. High temperatures topped out into the upper 20s and low 30s this afternoon. Bitter cold night: Tonight much colder temperatures dive into the state, and it will happen rapidly after midnight. Look for overnight lows to fall to the single digits as we approach daybreak Friday morning. Wind chills will likely dip from 10 to 15° below zero, especially in the northern half of the state. A cold weather advisory is in effect because of the bitter cold temperatures expected for Friday into Saturday. Weekend winter storm: We continue to monitor changes in the forecast for the weekend. We are becoming more confident of some impactful snow for much of the state but specifically for central and southern Indiana. A winter storm watch has been issued specifically for this weekend over Central and southern portions of the state. As we have been mentioning several times this week, the best chances, for the heaviest snow will be in the southern portions of the state mainly south of I 70 and closer to the Ohio river, where likely there will be the bull’s-eye of the highest snow accumulations. Meanwhile, central Indiana will still see several inches of snow that will lead to a high impact for traveling over the weekend. We still have some questions on exact totals, but it does appear that the best chance is for over 6 inches of snowfall still remain down to the south. With that said, we are looking more probable that we could be somewhere into the 4 to 7 inch range round much of central Indiana but again that is still subject to change as we get more data coming in. In terms of timing, snowfall looks to arrive by the afternoon hours on Saturday and picking up steam with heavier, snowfall rates into the evening and overnight hours. Snowfall will likely continue through much of Sunday with the heaviest snow for the day coming in the morning hours. Now with us being still a few days out in the storm system, not even technically on shore yet, this is still subject to change both with timing and snowfall amounts so make sure you stay tuned to the forecast if you have interest over the weekend. We also feel confident about the bitter cold that’s going to grab a hold as we go through the weekend. High temperatures both Saturday and Sunday will only be in the low teens and overnight. Lows will be dangerously close to 0° for both weekend mornings. The cold likely will grab hold for the weekend with a fresh snow pack that could keep those temperatures down even more. Highs will be in the mid-teens on Monday and only moderate to the mid 20s for the middle of the week. Long range pattern also keeps us well below average for the next couple of weeks. ...read more read less