Chilly mornings and mild afternoons this week

Temperatures around Mecklenburg county dropped well below freezing this Sunday morning, with Chase City, Boydton, and South Hill thermometers all recording lows of 26 degrees. Clarksville was the "warm" spot with a low of 28 degrees, likely due to the proximity of the above-freezing lake waters. Sunshine and dry air will help boost afternoon temperatures around the county into the mid-50s, just about average for the first weekend of February.

The work week looks to continue the dry and sunny trend. A storm system that had the potential for wintry mischief has been shoved well to the south. Its only effects on local weather will be some high clouds late this afternoon into the evening hours. Meanwhile temperatures this week will closely resemble Sunday's regime of morning lows in the 20s and afternoon highs in the 50s.

With the current jet stream pattern high pressure will remain in control of the local weather conditions this week. This graphic indicates the lack of precipitation expected across the Mid-Atlantic states through Friday morning:

Long range indications are that the latter half of February looks to be colder than the first half. Details this far out are still sketchy, but it does appear that Mecklenburg could see another round of much cooler than average air after Valentine's Day. Could that mean wintry precipitation? We'll see.