COEUR d’ALENE — The temperature is expected to go negative next week.

“We’ve got the coldest weather in three years coming,” Press Climatologist Cliff Harris said Thursday. “Below zero if I’m right.”

Thursday’s high of 42 degrees, along with southwesterly winds and rain, melted much of the snow that fell earlier this week. That led some to worry it was too warm and a white Christmas might be in danger.

But fear not, Harris said. A cold front out of Alaska is en route.

He expects snow today, Saturday and early next week. And temperatures, starting tonight, will begin dropping, from 20s to teens to single digits and finally subzero.

Harris said the coldest day of the year could be Wednesday, when it hits 10 below. The high could be just 3 degrees. Windchill factors could reach 20 to 25 below zero.

Harris said the cold snap could last 10 days to two weeks, so people should bunker down.

“If you want winter, it’s coming,” he said.