Prepping for frigid Lambeau

Green Bay — It will be cold Sunday at Lambeau Field.

Not Ice Bowl cold, or even 2008 vs. the Giants cold, but cold enough to advise caution to fans attending the game.

The forecast has fluctuated, but on Wednesday it called for a high of 13 degrees and a wind chill of zero to 5 below. The normal temperature for this time of year, which will return briefly Monday, is 25 degrees.

“You should dress in layers, drink warm fluids, not expose skin for too long,” said Roy Eckberg, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Ashwaubenon.

The Packers have hosted colder games. The Ice Bowl in December 1967 started at 13 below zero with a minus-23 wind chill and got colder during the game, with the wind chill going below minus-36.

The wind chill for the Dallas Cowboys game in January 2015 was 0 degrees. The game against the San Francisco 49ers in 2014, which had expectations of apocalyptic cold, started at 5 degrees with a minus-10 wind chill. The NFC championship game against the New York Giants in 2008 was closer to Ice Bowl levels, with a 1 below zero temperature and minus-23 wind chill.

Lambeau Field has metal benches in the bowl, so games are more tolerable with something to sit on, either a blanket or a portable seat without pockets or concealed areas. Portable seats also have the advantage of securing sitting space. At the beginning of winter games, when people are bundled up, space is tight.

Fans also can bring loose cardboard into the stadium to put under their feet to cut the cold from the concrete stands.

The cold snap, which will be at its most severe on Thursday, was caused by a jet stream dipping into the Midwest and allowing arctic cold to follow. Eckberg said that’s typical of La Niña winters.

“Part of it is it’s just winter, but the jet stream has kind of buckled, letting the arctic air into the U.S.,” he said. “It’s going to warm up Monday or Tuesday, but indications are that after that warm-up, there will be another cold shot.”