Wind chill values are in the low to mid 20s Friday afternoon and we are in for a very cold 24-36 hours. Temperatures will be dropping quickly once the sun goes down as wind calms down a little bit. Look for increasing clouds overnight which usually holds numbers up but that will not likely be the case tonight.
Temperatures will be dropping into the upper teens tonight in the northern half of the area with low to mid 20s south. This will be the coldest night of the weekend with a widespread hard freeze likely across the area.
Saturday will stay cold with mid 30s for afternoon highs. Expect another hard freeze for most of the area on Sunday morning. Immediate New Orleans should stay in the upper 20s. Things warm up a bit on Christmas into the low to mid 40s and then we see one more night of 20s and 30s into Monday morning.