SPOKANE – The National Weather Service sent out an advisory last Tuesday warning of dangerously cold temperatures throughout Eastern Washington, including the Okanogan.

“Dangerously cold temperatures will impact Eastern Washington and North Idaho through the remainder of the workweek and into the first half of the weekend with the arrival of an Arctic air mass,” reads the advisory. “High temperatures will only warm into the single digits and teens. Meanwhile overnight lows will likely drop into the single digits to below zero. Portions of the region will also see dangerous wind chills of minus ten to minus 20 early Wednesday and again on Friday.”

The Okanogan Valley, especially the highland areas experienced extremely cold conditions and high winds all last weekend. There were several reports of frozen pipes in the valley, as well as some power outages in the highlands.

“With the extreme cold… frost bite and hypothermia will occur much faster. If outdoors, remember to dress in layers and cover exposed skin. Unprotected pipes will be susceptible to freezing and bursting. Take precautions to protect pets and livestock from extreme cold,” reads the alert from the Spokane office of the National Weather Service.

NWS also said that areas of snow will continue to impact portions of the Inland Northwest through the week leading to wintry travel conditions, adding, “Another round of widespread moderate to locally heavy snow will occur on Thursday.”