For those who have been hiding under a rock — or, more likely, a heated blanket — winter has thoroughly arrived in North Idaho.

On Tuesday, the area was under a special weather statement issued by the National Weather Service in Spokane, which warned of dangerously cold temperatures for the remainder of the workweek and into the first half of the weekend with the arrival of an Arctic air mass. As of Tuesday afternoon, the statement was in effect until 7 a.m. today.

It was not quite 20 degrees outside as Derek Zollinger shoveled snow and chipped ice from his downtown Coeur d’Alene driveway early Tuesday afternoon.

“We’ve been over to the west side, Anacortes, Wash. We were there for Christmas and came back (Monday),” he said. “They got hit good over there. I think there’s more snow over there.”

This is his fifth winter in North Idaho, but not his first snow rodeo.

“I broke my ankle that year, about four or five years ago, and my wife had to do all the shoveling,” he said.

Now the snow boot is on the other foot — Zollinger and his wife are expecting their second child in about 30 days, so shoveling snow has fallen solely on him.

They’re ready for a new baby, and for the Arctic temperatures.

“We’re set,” he said. “We operate just downtown; we don’t even have to drive if we don’t have to. We have a little sled for my daughter that we pull with a little chair on it.”

The plunging mercury combined with wintry gales will create a wind chill effect, plunging temperatures as low as 20 degrees below zero, according to Press Meteorologist Randy Mann.

United States Postal Service mail carrier Bradley Robb is one of many who will be braving the cold each day. This is his first winter on the job.

“It’s a unique experience,” he said. “They provide us with hand warmers, things like that. It’s layers and layers.”

Tuesday's high was 14 degrees with a low of 6, according to Press Climatologist Cliff Harris. The half-inch of the white stuff Tuesday brought the December total to about 33 inches.

New Year's Eve is going to be extremely cold. The National Weather Service predicts a partly sunny day with a high of 15 degrees and a low of 1 below zero.

"I do see winds picking up toward the end of the week. That could be a windchill of 15 or 20 below," Harris said.

The Northwest is still under the influence of moisture coming from the Pacific Ocean as it runs into cold air coming from Montana. Harris said New Year's Day could warm up a bit if cloud cover remains. However, if it's clear, Polar Bear Plungers are in for some frigid fun.

"If we keep overcast and ice crystals like (Tuesday), it could be a little milder, but if it clears Saturday morning, it's going to be interesting," Harris said. "We have another system coming in New Year's Day bringing in more snow, then getting warmer, and then we'll cool off with highs in the 20s and lows in the teens from the seventh to the eighth."