Ready or not, here comes the season's first blasts of truly arctic air. Unfortunately, they are occurring very early in the season with fall just about halfway over. 

The air set to invade the Midwest, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, and Northeast over the next week or so is coming directly from the Arctic Circle. 

It will be so cold that many maps are showing colors that don't often show up. For example, the Climate Prediction Center's outlook for November 11-15th is using the darkest shade of blue available to highlight the fact that there is a 90-100% chance of colder-than-normal temperatures.

That does not happen all that often.

The absolute coldest of the weather here in Michiana and the Great Lakes overall will come in two distinct waves:

1. November 7th and 8th

2. November 11th-14th (possibly even longer)

That's when many temperature-related records will fall across the Midwest, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, and Northeast. 

Michiana will be included. We will likely break or come very close to breaking a few records for cold high temperatures and cold overnight low temperatures. 

Highs will be in the lower to perhaps middle 30s on November 7th and 8th. By the time we get to the second shot of arctic air next week, we're talking highs in the upper 20s and lower 30s. Some of us may not get above 25° once or twice during that stretch.

That puts the area anywhere from 15° to 30° below normal. That is a huge temperature differential, and incredible cold for early November.

When we factor in the wind, it will feel like it's even colder. Feels like temperatures will be in the teens each morning and night between November 7th and 14th. For November, that really is as cold as it gets.

Some data suggest single digits for wind chill temperatures once or twice next week. That would not be all that shocking.

Put simply, we are in for a true shock to the system for the next week, if not longer. There are signs of a possible pattern flip by later in the month, but that is by no means certain at this point.