Cold is the operative word

Arctic air is plunging into the Carolinas this evening. Up in the mountains, upslope snows will continue tonight with sub-zero wind chill values at times. In fact, here a little before 6:00 the temp is already down to 10 degrees at the summit of Sugar Mountain.

Here in the Piedmont, temperatures are dropping rapidly this evening, and we will drop all of the way down into the upper teens to lower 20s for lows tonight. No snow here tonight....just a mostly clear sky.

In spite of a lot of sunshine Monday, I think the mercury struggles to make it to 40 degrees in most places. So, you will need the warm clothes throughout the day tomorrow.

We are in a pattern that will feature frequent re-enforcing shots of arctic air, and the next one will arrive by Tuesday night. Almost every high and low temperature around here for the next 10 days to two weeks will be below average. I still think the coldest air we have seen in quite some time could arrive next weekend.

Over the next 10 days, I see two opportunities for storm systems around here. One will likely be Thursday and Thursday night, and the other will likely be sometime around February 5.

The details are still impossible to nail down with our next system Thursday, but I am getting a little more confident that at least some wintry weather will be involved around the Carolinas. I just can't get any more specific than that at the moment, but it certainly bears watching.

Everyone stay warm!