The coldest air of the winter to date—by far—is moving in to Hamilton and Wenham on Wednesday.

Windchills are expected to be close to zero on Wednesday morning and possibly below zero on Thursday morning, which will be the coldest day since last February.

The National Weather Service said that Wednesday night's low temperature in Medford would be around 6 degrees with wind chill values as low as -2. On Thursday, the high should reach near 25, but the wind chill will make it feel as cold as -2 during the day.

The windchill temperature on Wednesday morning will be near 0, according to WHDH Chief Meteorlogist Pete Bouchard in his most recent blog, because of "a steady (not strong) breeze."

"And although Thursday morning is colder, there isn't a lot of wind," he said. "Sun will dominate the short term forecast too and afternoon highs will be manageable: mid and upper 20s."

The cold will not last forever. Forecasts call for the cold weather to end by the weekend and temperatures to be back into the 40s by next week. Bouchard said the "the deep freeze will be short-lived."