So Cold It's....Painful

Good Morning!

I thought that the harshest part of the winter was behind us with our early month cold snap.  Looks like that wasn't the case.  I'm not 100% sure that we get as low into the wind chill values as we saw earlier in the month, but we do spend more time in the deep freeze.  Let's have a look:

BRUTAL COLD RETURNS TONIGHT:  Wind chill advisories are up for the entire blog, which means that we'll see wind chill values in the -20 to -30 range tonight.  Winds kick up to 20-30 MPH in some cases depending on location, driving those wind chill values down.  Make sure you take precautions to bring in pets from outdoors, do what you need to do so the car will start, etc.  Some clearing in the area will allow air temperatures to fall below zero tonight, with a brief respite before the pattern repeats next week, where forecast model data currently indicates sub-zero air temperatures at night for most of the week.  Don't feel too bad, freezing and sub-freezing readings are expected to cover much of the US from the Rockies on east.

SNOW IN THE PICTURE:  We'll pick up from 2-3" of new snow in the area between now and Monday night.  Some partial clearing tonight so I don't think we get much of anything, except perhaps blowing snow from what's already on the ground, with winds turning northwest to north and increasing.  I can't rule out a few stray flurries if by chance you have some clouds overhead though.  The snow looks to be a two-piece deal.  We'll see some starting about lunchtime or shortly thereafter Friday, going into midday Saturday.  It tapers off to flurries or nothing, then re-starts again Sunday afternoon into Monday.  The 2-3" forecast looks good for the blog right now, so unless we get a big pattern shift (not likely) or an intense Clipper (possible, but not seeing that in the data at the moment), plan on that for the weekend.

PATTERN PERSISTENCE:  The subtitle says it all.  If you're looking for a break in this nasty cold weather pattern, the best I can tell you is good luck with that.  Current forecast data doesn't indicate a break in the temperatures anytime soon.  The freezing line makes it back to about as far north as Fort Wayne, Indiana toward the end of the forecast on February 5th, but then it starts diving south again.  In sum, Old Man Winter has us firmly in his clutches, and the Siberian Express is spooled up and at high output!  By the way, that last remark about a pattern break in February, don't put much stock in that - when it comes to weather forecasting, anything outside of seven days is fairly suspect.  You can only make an educated guess based on climatology (historical data), and trends.

I guess it's time for some downright brutal forecasting (the cold, not my accuracy) -

Like I said, do what you have to to get your cars ready for this next stretch of cold weather.  Stay inside this evening if at all possible and bring your pets inside too.  Be safe and we'll have more for you later on. Blessings!