Last night of arctic air...What next?

This is our last night of this brutally cold arctic air as a small warm up is underway through Tuesday. Take a look at the current temperature map I drew below:



As you can see, temperatures are already at this morning's low temperatures. This shows it is going to be a very cold night. With this stron arctic high pressure settling in, we will see the coldest night of the season, and in some spots, the coldest night since January 23, 2003 when we had the last actually brutal arctic outbreak.

I think lows tonight will range from 10 degrees in southern Missouri to -10 degrees in northern Missouri. A Wind Chill Advisory is still in affect for areas in northern Missouri due to the winds blowing 5-15 mph. Wind chill readings will be in the -15 to -25 degrees range overnight, and early Monday morning.

Highs Monday should warm up into the mid to upper teens, and that will feel pretty warm to what we have been experiencing that last couple of days. There could be a couple flurries or snow showers Monday morning in northwest Missouri.

Tuesday is still a tossup to me. With temperatures right near freezing, we could see some snow showers, freezing drizzle, sleet, or rain. I would say a 40 to 50 percent chance of a light mix Tuesday afternoon. Then a stronger disturbence comes through Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. This will likely bring the area some accumulating snow, but where will the snow fall?

I think the snow will be from along I-70 northward. This is where there is a decent likelyhood of a white Christmas, but the rain/snow line could be a bit further north or further south. How much snow will fall? I am still trying to put the peices together on the possible amounts, but there could be some decent totals.

There is another chance of light snow or a wintery mix on Christmas Day as another disturbance quickly moves through. Then there is another storm at the end of the week around Saturday.

Alex Pickman