We will be closing January with another Arctic cold snap making its way across the eastern half of the U.S. We won’t be immune from this cold snap, but it will not be a terribly severe or long-lasting cold for us in Charleston.

Warm to start the work week

As low pressure pulls away from the area Monday, northwest flow developing on the back side of it will scour out any remaining showers and help temperatures warm to around 60 in the afternoon as skies gradually clear for a brief period.

Cloud cover will steadily increase ahead of a cold front late Monday into Tuesday morning. This cold front will bring a band of showers along with it. Expect showers to kick up late Tuesday afternoon through midnight. Rain amounts will generally be light. (No, still no snow risk.)

Mid-week Arctic blast

After the front gets through late Tuesday/early Wednesday, winds will go northwest and pump in a good bit of cold air for mid-week. While we won’t be seeing any record-breaking temperatures (and thank goodness!), we do have a couple really chilly days in store for Wednesday and Thursday, with freezing mornings and highs in the 40s on those days. However, it’s nothing unprecedented — just bundle up well and you’ll be fine.

Warming up for the weekend

Temperatures begin to moderate on Friday and over the weekend as Arctic high pressure slides offshore and the upper-air pattern becomes a little less amplified. We could see a wedge of high pressure build in Saturday into Sunday, which would help keep some cloudiness around, but so far no rain is expected. Temperatures will still run below normal through Sunday, but won’t be heinously cold.

As always with forecasts seven days out, you’ll want to check back for updates.

Climatologically speaking, winter has bottomed out

Climatologically speaking, January 14 was the low point of winter from an average temperature perspective. We’re now on the upswing as we head into February, the last month of meteorological winter. Normal highs will steadily climb from 60 on February 1 to to 66 on February 28. Of course, actual temperatures will be highly variable, but overall, it’s uphill from here.