A cold front coming through on Monday will usher in much colder and drier air, keeping temperatures well below normal as we bid adieu to January.

Showers will clear the area by daybreak Monday along with the cold front itself, setting the stage for a cooler and drier airmass to move into the area. Downsloping northwesterly winds will compress the air and warm it a little bit, so despite the frontal passage and subfreezing temperatures aloft, we’ll still likely peak near 50° in the afternoon under increasingly sunny skies. Those winds go more northerly later in the day, though, allowing the really cold air to drain southward into the area, setting up a hard freeze for Tuesday morning. Winds out of the north around 5-10 MPH will drive wind chills Tuesday morning well into the teens, which is solidly in Cold Weather Advisory territory. Layer up well when you’re headed out to work or school! Highs Tuesday only peak in the mid-40s despite nearly cloudless skies thanks to the cold air moving in.

Temperatures moderate ever-so-slightly for the second half of the work week, with lows generally in the mid-to-upper 20s and highs still peaking only in the mid-to-upper 40s each day through Friday. A reinforcing shot of Arctic air moves in later Friday into Saturday, sending morning lows back into the low 20s and highs struggling to reach 40° on Saturday. Sunday starts just as cold (perhaps even colder) and only warms to the mid-40s. We will keep an eye on this weekend for the potential for some precipitation as operational model guidance along with a decent number of the ensembles want to spin up some sort of coastal low, but there are far more questions than answers at this stage. As always, stay tuned…

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