Liz Burke, WPRO News

Winter hit Rhode Island hard on Thursday morning with some of the coldest temperatures felt so far this season.

“This is one of the coldest mornings I can remember. For example, last January we got down to about 9 degrees as our coldest temperature and that’s about where we were this morning. So it’s certainly a cold one out there,” says Accuweather Meteorologist John Feerick.

Fortunately, he says the bitter cold won’t be with us for very long.

“The cold air is going to be with us just for this afternoon, at least the extreme cold. Things will rebound tomorrow and Saturday with highs in the upper 30s. So a lot better than today certainly,” says Feerick.

WPRO news reporter Steve Klmakin spoke with Rhode Islanders on Thursday morning about the chilly weather.

“It’s not too bad, you know, I’ve seen it worse,” says one man

“Bring it on! Skiing and sledding and everything else,” says one woman when asked if she was ready for the winter.

But not everyone was as enthusiastic about the temperature.

“It’s freezing. It’s too cold,” said a woman while laughing.

It may be sunny outside, but temperatures are only expected to reach the mid-20s.