A blast of winter cold to take hold heading into new year

It’s going to get sharply colder heading into the new year as a couple blasts of Arctic air will lead to well below-average temperatures.

The first taste of cold will arrive on New Year’s Day with temperatures expected to hover around or in the lower 20s under a mainly cloudy sky.

Little change is expected on Thursday other than more sunshine. High temperatures will again be around 20°.

The rest of the week and weekend is expected to be much colder with high temperatures in the teens and night lows in the single digits to around zero.

Another blast of Arctic air is set to arrive by the middle of next week as high temperatures will struggle to get out of the single digits and night lows will be well below-zero in the single digits. Wind chills will make it feel much colder.

The Climate Prediction Center’s latest 6 to 10 day temperature forecast covering the January 5th through 9th period, has a very high probability of below-average temperatures across the region.

The period is expected to be mainly quiet, however late in the weekend a storm system will track somewhere across the middle-to-lower Mississippi River Valley region. Most weather models keep the system away from the local area, however some shifts are still possible so make sure to keep updated on the forecast.