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Starting off 2017 with an actual Seattle freeze

caption: No, not that kind of Seattle freeze. It's gonna be cold brrrrrrrrrrr.
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No, not that kind of Seattle freeze. It's gonna be cold brrrrrrrrrrr.
KUOW Photo/Daniel Berman

It will be a cold start to 2017 in the Seattle area. Forecasters say that as the ball drops New Year's Eve, a cold front starts moving into the northwest from Canada.

Washington state's climatologist, Nick Bond, is monitoring the weather pattern. He says overnight temperatures will drop into the low 20s starting Monday. He says get ready to deal with the cold for some time.

Bond: "We have had short bouts of chilly weather in the last few years, but this one could be a week or longer, and that's something we just haven't seen for a while."

Bond says the last cold snap that lasted a week or longer was in 2008.

Pipes that aren't well insulated could freeze. So could some small ponds or lakes in the Puget Sound area.

Other parts of the northwest will get even colder. Spokane and Bend, Oregon are among the cities expecting temperatures below zero.

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