There’s cold, and then there’s extreme cold.

This weekend fits into the latter, as temperatures Saturday and Sunday are expected to be downright bone-chilling.

Today was expected to be the best of the next several by far, with temperatures well up in the 20s, according to Tom Kines, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather.

“If we’re lucky, we’ll even get to 30 or 32 (degrees),” Kines said. “It will certainly feel pretty good out; there won’t be a whole lot of wind.”

There is the possibility, noted Kines, for some snow to arrive late in the day and into tonight, though probably an inch or less.

That’s when an Arctic front will come through, and temperatures will start to plummet and the wind will start to pick up, he said.

It only gets worse from there, as Kines mentioned Saturday is “looking like a brutal day” with temperatures no better than the teens, with a real-feel of 15 to 30 below and winds gusting at times between 40 and 50 mph.

“If you don’t have to go out don’t, and if you do have to go out, bundle up,” he said. “Protect your skin, hands, face, you got to take precautions.”

For those who have to travel, Kines said they’ll have to watch out for a lot of blowing snow going on.

He said temperatures Saturday night are expected to drop down to zero, which will make it feel like its 30 to 35 below.

Kines said the high on Sunday will likely reach the teens, but added there will still be a noticeable wind blowing.

“Not as bad or brutal as Saturday,” he said, adding it’s going to feel like zero. “If you’re outside, you’re going to feel it.”

Fortunately, Kines said the cold will gradually ease up early next week.

“It shouldn’t be as cold,” he said. “The temperatures are still below what they should be this time of year, but a lot better than what it’s going to be over the weekend.”

However, Kines cautioned that next week’s forecast will likely contain a couple of storms at least, with a mix of precipitation that could be snow, sleet or freezing rain probably mid to late in the week.

“The cold eases up, but there’s a price to pay,” he said. “I guess (the price will be) in the form of precipitation.”

So, just exactly how cold are things?

“There’s no doubt it’s been very cold over the past week-and-a-half, even two weeks,” Kines said. “We do tend to forget that the first half of January was very mild, so that erases some of the cold that we’re experiencing now.”

That particular stretch, Kines said, was uncharacteristically cold.

“Having said that, the stretch that we just went through back at the end of January, that was one of the coldest nine-day stretches that you’re going to see,” he said. “When people get their heating bills, they’re not going to be happy.”

The good news is that the bitter cold should soon be in the rear view mirror, Kines said.

“(This weekend) is likely going to be the last really cold air mass that we see,” he said. “Based on what the weather pattern looks like the next couple of weeks, don’t see any Arctic air coming down for a prolonged period.”

As Kines noted, by that time we’ll be into the latter stages of February, when average temperatures by that time are getting up to near 40 or even the low 40s.