After a bone-chilling finish to January with 9 consecutive days of temperatures below 20, the Valley slowly climbed out of the deep freeze on Monday with afternoon readings in the mid 20s. Tuesday's afternoon temperatures will be similar, although the day will not start out as frigid as Monday did. There might be a couple of snow flurries around during the second half of the day.

Cold and uneventful weather is on the way for Wednesday and Thursday. High temperatures will be at least a dozen degrees shy of the seasonal average for early February. 

Meanwhile, a potent "Alberta Clipper" system will cascade thorough the Great Lakes Thursday into Thursday night, and snow is a good bet in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania by daybreak Friday. Snow is likely to stick around for much of the day, and there will be a gusty wind as well. While this will not be a major snowstorm, a few inches of snow can make for some headaches on area roads throughout the day. Snow will taper off Friday night, but a frigid, gusty wind is set to stick around into the first half of the weekend. Wind chill values will likely stay below zero throughout Saturday.