Good Sunday afternoon. Winter is pushing back in as we speak and the pattern ahead is likely to lead to a harsh month of January for much of the country. Some warning shots are being thrown our way this week as we track some festive flakes and frigid temps for our Christmas week.

A wave of low pressure will indeed develop along our front as it slips to the east of us. This means another surge of showers across eastern Kentucky this evening and overnight. The back edge of this will be in the form of some light snow and flurries as it works eastward into Monday morning. Temps will be in the 30s tonight and stay there into Monday as winds gust up.

Those winds are ahead of a stronger push of cold air that arrives for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Check out the frigid numbers…

NAM 1

Throw in gusty winds and single digit wind chills are a good bet. What about some snow to go with that cold? I do think some festive flakes are possible as a couple of disturbances wok in from the northwest. The NAM is picking up on these…

NAM 2

I don’t think too many people would complain about arctic cold temps and some flakes flying around Christmas.

Another weak system dives in on Thursday and may be another flake maker. That’s a quick shot of cold that is being pushed to our east by a bigger system coming behind it next weekend…

GFS

Check out the air behind that arctic front…

GFS 2

From there… it’s game on for the potential for a very harsh winter pattern to grip much of the country for January. The GFS Ensembles temp anomalies (Celsius) map grows colder by the run for the first week of the year…

GFS 3Have a great rest of the day and take care.