We will continue to trend warmer heading toward New Year’s Weekend. First, though, we’ve got to get through one more night of subfreezing temperatures, and then we get a long break. But once again tonight, though, be sure to have a faucet dripping, pipes insulated, pets indoors, plants covered, and the people in your life accounted for and warm. Temperatures will bottom out in the upper 20s — certainly not as severe of a freeze as we have seen recently — across the metro area. The good news is that we’ll warm nicely with temperatures approaching 60° in the afternoon under brilliantly sunny skies.

We head back well below freezing overnight into Tuesday morning as gradually modifying Arctic air remains in place across the area and mostly clear skies allow for good radiational cooling. This is going to be another night where you’re going to want to have a faucet or two going to prevent burst pipes or other leaks from developing. Make sure pets are inside, sensitive plants are indoors or covered, and your loved ones and neighbors are warm.

Temperatures should be above freezing by 10am on their way to the low 50s in the afternoon. A shortwave trough will be swinging by in the morning through early afternoon, instigating some cloud cover but little else as very dry air remains in place across the area. We should see some clearing begin to take shape before sunset, after which temperatures will once again quickly fall back into the 30s.

We begin the final week of 2022 with Arctic air continuing to make its presence felt across the area. We’ll start Monday in the upper teens to low 20s, with freezing temperatures all the way to the coast once again. It’ll be another night to make sure that pets, plants, and people are well accounted for, and that pipes are protected with extra insulation and a dripping faucet. Highs will top out again in the low-to-mid-40s under predominantly sunny skies.

After record-breaking cold on Christmas Eve, we have another round of cold — but perhaps not quite as cold — weather for Christmas Day.

We begin the day with another Wind Chill Advisory as another round of low teens wind chills is forecast across the area. Air temperatures will drop to around 20°, with another dip into the teens possible further inland as well as in more rural areas. The good news is that after what should amount to about 40 consecutive hours below freezing, we will finally exceed the melting point by early afternoon, which will give us some much-needed thaw time. Skies will be mostly clear throughout the day, and at least some unfiltered sunshine will help it feel not as bitterly cold as it was on Saturday, though wind chills will still, at best, run in the low 30s.