Good evening folks, I just wanted to pop in here, not to discuss the relatively boring fair-weather pattern that is upcoming for this week through Friday mid-day, nor do we need to discuss what will amount to roughly a Coating to 2″ of light snow Friday evening into early Saturday morning. It’s what lies behind our ostensibly harmless little Clipper system, which will actually deepen rapidly once it hits the Gulf of Maine and waters south of Nova Scotia that I wanted to expand upon.

As that storm cranks and tightens up, a very strong Arctic high pressure cell will be diving southeast behind the Clipper and push a potent cold front through the region by Saturday afternoon, the way it looks now.

The pressure gradient between these two systems will become steeper and steeper, and cause a strong set of northwest wind gusts to develop Saturday night into Sunday morning, pushing speeds of 30-50mph, most likely.

Aside from a few snow showers or a squall working through the region later Saturday, temps are going to plummet down into the -5º to -15º range region-wide for low temps.

When combined with those winds, wind chill readings may tank down into the -20º to -35º range, which would prompt a mix of Cold Weather Advisories and Extreme Cold Warnings to be hoisted by the NWS.

Hopefully, between now and then, there will be some easing up of the worst potential impacts, but as of now, this is setting up to be THE coldest shot of air this winter season.

However, there IS a light at the end of this #TundraTunnel, which is that after a very cold day Sunday, and another very cold night Sunday night into Monday morning, by the middle of next week temps should come back up, and then after that I don’t see another real Arctic shot in the offing, which is good news.

That doesn’t mean we can’t get hit again, but I think we start to get into a seesaw pattern of milder surges with additional Canadian cold shots going into the second and third week of February, with a possible snow to mix event by next Thursday after this Friday night’s snowy lil’ clipper.

Gratitude is comparative, meaning my low back may be killing me, but at least I can still swallow food and go outside and get the mail and appreciate that.

Similarly, yes, it could become brutally cold again this weekend into very early next week, but at least there are some signs of temperature moderation we can appreciate.

Anyway, I just felt it was important to make you all aware of how serious this next cold snap could be so you can gear up the best you are able to, to get through it.

I will report the next couple of days in the later afternoon or evening, and try to get some sleep after this busy winter time, so no morning report for the next couple of mornings while it’s boring, cold, and sunny, with highs in the 20s and lows in the single digits through Thursday.

Have a great night, Dave.