Practice begins for high school basketball teams today, including Nashua South and Nashua North. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

The cold temperatures have arrived, most likely to stay.

That can only mean one thing: the start of high school winter sports.

High schools all over the area will have their winter teams start tryouts/practices today. That means a big day for basketball, hockey, skiing, winter spirit and indoor track. Bowling, wrestling, and swimming, and at some schools, skiing, have already begun their practices.

For high school basketball coaches, it won’t be a moment too soon. The season will open up for most on or around Dec. 10, and most of the Divisions will have their titles decided before the end of February.

Divisions I and II will have their title games for boys and girls, tentatively, on Feb. 19. The Super Bowl will be on Feb. 13 this year, and the local high school basketball tournaments for the top two divisions will already be underway.

Hockey will keep its usual dates, starting its tournaments in early March with the finals on March 12.

Wrestling will also have its usual finish in mid-February, presumably back to the multi-team Division meet/weight class format rather than team dual meet championships, although the latter was popular a year ago.

Some new coaches will be making their debuts this winter. Alvirne has hired former ConVal coach Leo Gershgorin for boys hoop, while former Broncos coach Marty Edwards takes over at Hollis Brookline.

For the first time in a while, most hockey teams will have their coaches back. The one exception is with the Bishop Guertin girls, as championship-winning head coach Scott Ciszek passed the reins to longtime assistant Phil DeVita.

Anyway, it’s time for the whole winter season to get underway, and by the time you may read this, some teams will have already had their first practice today. Hollis Brookline hockey is scheduled to start at Nashua’s Conway Arena — at 5 a.m.

Winter has arrived.

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