KEARNEY, Neb. — People in Central Nebraska are preparing for a weekend spent indoors.

A Wind Chill Warning will take effect at 6:00 Friday evening and last until noon on Tuesday. The National Weather Service says overnight wind gusts could reach 35 mph or more in Grand Island and Hastings. The high winds could blow around the fresh five or six inches of snow and create blizzard-like conditions and giant snow drifts. 

But NWS Hastings meteorologist Aaron Mangels says wind chill values are a greater threat than blowing snow.

“These are numbers we need to take seriously," Mangels said. "This is like, if you’re outside and you’re unprotected, frostbite can happen in as little as 10 minutes. (It’s) not something that happens very frequently in Nebraska.”

In fact, Mangels says you have to go back to 1990 for the last time Grand Island experienced wind chill values below -40. The forecast says they could reach -42 early Sunday morning. Forecasters don’t expect wind chill values to get warmer than -20 until Tuesday.