Another surge of cold air is on the way

Wednesday morning temperatures dropped to 19 degrees at Clarksville, Chase City, and South Hill. Those readings are more typical of the coldest days in January than early December. The bad news? There's another push of Arctic air on the horizon to end the work week. The good news? A warmup looks likely for next week.

The Arctic air designation is used for these very dry and cold air masses since that is where they originate. This graphic illustrates the source regions for the air that affects the nation:

Obviously it's very early in the season for this level of chill to affect Mecklenburg county. But ironically the timing is perfect as this week was previously designated as Winter Weather Preparedness Week in Virginia. The link has a lot of good information for folks, including some explanatory videos.

A southwesterly breeze and sunny skies will help temperatures top out in the upper 40s this afternoon, still a bit below average for this date. Tonight those breezes will strengthen, gusting over 20 mph ahead of the next cold front. When that boundary blows through Thursday morning the winds will swap around out of the northwest, ushering in the next shot of cold air. Gusts over 30 mph are likely tomorrow afternoon.

Thursday's high temperature in the mid-40s will occur near noon and then drop all afternoon. Friday morning will dawn with another chance at lows in the teens. Thermometers will struggle to climb out of the 30s to end the work week. The aforementioned warmup then looks to arrive on Sunday.