Melt that Ice!

Discussion:
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Just as I feared, that cold air was not willing to leave very easily. I have a very nice ice rink outside my door this morning. If only I had some skates. But no need to worry, the sunshine will take of it today as our cold air is greatly modified. Yes, there will be more sunshine today, but it will fade in the afternoon as some more plain old rain showers move in this evening …

• Today: Very mild afternoon. Sun then clouds later with some showers likely in the evening. Temperatures above 40.  
• Thursday: The jewel of the week. Warm. Clouds and sun. Temperatures steadily rise into the 50s by very late in the day as some lingering cool air hangs on east of the mountains. A few showers possible at night as front moves through.
• Friday: Partly sunny. Much colder. This is a big change, but really is a result of greater clarity emerging from the battle between the artic high and the SE ridge. The cold will win this weekend, but lose next week as mild Pacific air floods the nation.
• Saturday: Cold with light snow likely in the afternoon and at night. This does not look like a big storm, but given the circumstances, it may be our biggest snow of the season to date! Not saying much when at my house the biggest is 1.5”.  
• Sunday: Cold. Chance for light snow.
• Monday: Cold. Chance for light snow/ice.
• Tuesday: Warming up with chance for rain.
• Wednesday: Warm. Chance for rain.

 
The next 48 hours will be warm over-all.  Then a cold weekend with some snow, and then some ice on Monday. No big storms are forecast. After next Monday winter takes a hiatus across the nation as the January Thaw goes into over drive. A warm 7-10 days is likely. After which there are signals it will turn cold and maybe stormy. But for how long?  I am skeptical of a lengthy cold period. It would be great for my winter outlook, but from what I see … cold will come and the cold will go and the warmth will outduel it. (right now, we are below average for the month, and will be about average after next Monday, but the Thaw will put us over the top to being like December, ~1.5 above average. Hey, it saves on the utility bills!) 

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