Very Cold Mid-week - Watching Weekend Storm System

Good Tuesday afternoon!  Arctic air continues to spill into the United States as we round out 2014 and begin the new year.  Check out how cold it could get around here tomorrow morning.....

GEM modeled temperatures 12z Wednesday.  Graphic courtesy of tropical tidbits.com

Northern parts of the state will likely see single digits for lows - with below zero temps lurking just off to our northwest.  The last day of 2014 will be VERY cold with highs ranging from the upper teens to middle 20s under mostly sunny skies along with breezy northwest winds.  

The cold begins to relax a little bit late in the week as we track our next storm system expected to move through this weekend.  The GFS model shows a wintry mix working into the state Friday night into Saturday morning.....

By Saturday afternoon, the GFS shows a rain event for the southern half of the state, a continued wintry mix north of I-70, with snow in far northern Indiana.  

Looking at surface temperatures on the GFS - there would definitely be a concern for some freezing rain for areas along and north of I-70 Saturday.  The GFS solution then indicates that precipitation would change to all snow showers Saturday night into Sunday with falling temperatures and gusty winds.  This is just ONE model and one run of the model....this WILL change.  However I do think the GFS solution makes sense given the pattern.  

I continue to see signs of potentially very cold air next week, even colder than what we are seeing this week.  Everyone who decided to write the winter off before December was even over are regretting that right now!  :)  I will try to keep the blog updated through the rest of the week, so check back for more updates.