MOTHER NATURE TO SHOW HUB WARMTH

Weather-weary Bay State residents will have to battle through one more day of bone-chilling temperatures before the mercury will mercifully rise above freezing — but once Mother Nature releases her icy grip tonight, it’ll get steadily warmer into next week, when temperatures could get as high as 50 degrees.

Many cold-weather records were expected to fall overnight last night, thanks to the same enormous Arctic air mass that has been lingering over the region since Christmas Day. Temperatures were expected to plummet to minus 4, with a wind chill that made it feel like it was 21 below.

But National Weather Service meteorologist Stephanie Dunten said that’s about to change. And, oddly enough, it was Thursday’s powerful snowstorm, which dumped more than a foot of snow in the city and caused widespread coastal flooding across the Bay State, that ultimately cleared a path for the warmer winds originating out of Mexico that will finally force the lingering Arctic air out of New England.

“It’s switching our winds to a more southwest direction and that’s going to pull up warmer air,” Dunten said. “Later in the week, we continue that southwest flow and we actually have a warm front moving through later Thursday into Friday.”

And though it may feel like we’re in the midst of a heat wave after nearly two weeks of living

our lives below freezing, tomorrow’s anticipated high of 36 degrees is simply a return to the seasonal norm.

The average high temperature in Boston on Jan. 8 is 35 degrees. The average low is about 22.

But it’s not over yet. Today’s high temperature in Boston is expected to hover around 17 degrees and tonight will be more of the same — with an overnight low expected to drop to 12 in the city, with a wind chill that makes it feel like more than 10 degrees below zero.

Then, when the Arctic air finally recedes and moves off to the east, it’s expected to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

The daily high temperatures for Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to remain in the high 30s and low 40s and some local weather experts are predicting that it could be as warm as 50 degrees in parts of the Bay State Friday.

There’s also the chance for some wet weather on the horizon. The National Weather Service says there’s a slight chance of snow flurries during the day tomorrow and it might rain in Boston both Thursday and Friday.

But after surviving this historic cold snap, a rainy day in the 40s and 50s will feel like shorts and T-shirt weather.

STAFF PHOTOS BY NICOLAUS CZARNECKI, ABOVE, AND CHRIS CHRISTO, RIGHT BIG CHILL: The Charles River sits frozen over yesterday, above. At right, a discarded Christmas tree and a chair serve as parking space savers on H Street in South Boston.

STAFF PHOTOS BY CHRIS CHRISTO DIGGING OUT: Above, Matt McDonald digs his car out yesterday on H Street in South Boston. Below, Doug Kuzoian works to create a parking space on East Seventh Street, also in South Boston. Forecasters are calling for warmer temperatures in the region...