Keep the jacket, hat, and gloves handy for the next seven days.

Even though we’ll have temperatures in the 30s, Saturday will actually be one of the milder days coming up. Hit-or-miss snow showers are likely to set up during the morning after the cold front passes through. At the very least, heavy snow bands are possible during the day. After the snow passes, temperatures will drop to the low teens by the time we wake up on Sunday.

We’ll have a brief period of dry weather as winds will be unfavorable for lake-effect snow. Sunday’s highs, though, will still fall below average.

A clipper system will pass to our north on Sunday night. This will bring a decent chance for some light snow showers, but a much higher certainty of our coldest air of the season. Temperatures will progressively fall during the day on Monday, eventually settling close to zero degrees on Monday night.

If you have to be outdoors between Monday morning and Wednesday morning, please make sure you are adequately fitted for the chill. Thermometers could reach into the negatives for the first time in a year, with wind chills even getting down as far as -20.

Ambient temperatures won’t be much milder. We are expecting highs on Tuesday to be in the low teens, around 20 degrees below average. Even more snow is possible Tuesday night, though this will allow temperatures to slowly climb.

By the end of the seven-day forecast, a pattern of cold air and slight snow chances will rule. Thursday’s highs in the mid-20s will be a slight decline from Wednesday’s “balmy” low-to-mid 30s, with a low chance for snow, especially north of Youngstown. More small-scale chances exist on Friday.

Temperatures may also sink further below average as we close out the month of January.