What a difference a year made.

Cold weather will linger in Greater Port Arthur for the first half of this week, with low temperatures not expected to escape the 20s until at least Thursday.

That’s in sharp contract to New Year’s Day 2017, when Greater Port Arthur enjoyed temperatures in the mid-70s and a low of 62.

The National Weather Service in Lake Charles said the high temperature at Southeast Texas Regional Airport on New Year’s Day 2018 would be 36 degrees with the low expected at 23. A hard freeze advisory was issued – be careful on bridges – and a wind chill advisory was in effect.

Tuesday’s forecast promised more of the same, with a projected high of 37 and low of 24.

Come Wednesday and through Friday, highs were expected to be in the 40s, but Wednesday’s projected low is 27. Not until Thursday will the projected low reach 30.

Forecaster Jared Rackley said January 2017 only delivered a few days in the 25-27 degree low temperature range, but those came with highs in the 40s.

This week, he said, the cold weather would remain “a little longer and be much colder.”

He said the impact of cold weather on insects is not his area of expertise, but he suggested it may be too early in the winter for this current cold weather to have a lasting effect on springtime insects.

In Orange, a “warming station” was opened New Year’s Eve at the Salvation Army’s location at 1950 Martin Luther King Drive. But the Office of Emergency Management reported that only one person sought services there, although the station had accommodations for 50.

The office reported that it would be open New Year’s night if anyone called to ask for assistance.