The coldest air of the season, a potentially impactful winter storm, and lake-effect snow are all on the table as part of an active seven-day forecast.

After dealing with some early-morning snow flurries, a cold front has passed over our area. The cold front will bring a fresh serving of arctic air to our area. Temperatures will gradually fall throughout the second half of the day. Partly cloudy skies will allow thermometers to fall into the teens as Friday begins.

Temperatures will continue to fall throughout the day on Friday as a strong area of high pressure funnels arctic air into the Valley. Lows overnight will likely get lower than the coldest air we saw on Tuesday, with negative single digits a likely bet for the entire area. Wind chills as we wake up on Saturday could be as low as the negative teens.

If the arctic blast wasn’t enough, a strong winter storm will be developing north of the Gulf around this time and bear down on much of the Eastern half of the country. We are still around three days out- a hair too early for accumulation forecasts, but we can point out emerging specifics at this point. A northerly trend in the system’s movement became more pronounced during the day on Monday, allowing higher snow totals to become possible. The snow will likely move in around or just after midnight on Sunday, continuing through the duration of the day and evening. The snow will be light and fluffy- not a problem in terms of power outages, but a consistency that allows fast accumulations. The snow will exit on Monday, with the chance of wraparound lake-effect flurries.

A lot of what happens after this system moves out will be dictated by the system itself. There may be some lingering lake-effect snow in the wake of this system, though the chance of this is mild as of now. Temperatures will also be determined depending on the track of the system and the amount of snow coverage, though they are likely to range between below and well below average- par for the course on a cold, wintry seven-day forecast.