Metro Atlanta will see 12 degrees on Friday

On Friday morning when the city wakes up and sticks its nose out the door a lot of people are going to ask themselves the obvious question: What the heck is Al Gore talking about?

It’s 12!

That’s not a temperature!

That’s a carton of eggs! That’s two six packs! That’s my ex-wife’s shoe size!

Nope. It’s 12 degrees, the coldest day forecast so far this winter, and here’s the really cruel and unusual part: it will come whomping into town Thursday on 25 mph gusts of wind that will make it feel closer to zero. Sure, there here will be sunshine. But it will be sunshine without the thing that makes sunshine so great: warmth!

Temperatures will climb only into the upper 30s during the day on Friday before plunging even colder — to a low around 9 degrees — in the wee hours Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

Before the big chill hits, lows will be in the mid-20s Thursday morning. The mercury will top out around 40 Thursday afternoon, but northwest winds at 20 to 25 mph will keep wind chills around 10 degrees all day, forecasters warned.One more number to keep in mind: March 20th. That’s the first day of Spring and it’s just 61 days away!