A very cold and mostly dry week lies ahead

I don't envy the professional weather forecasters at the moment. It's a bit like filling out brackets for "March Madness" basketball...predicting the future is hard! This Sunday morning the only thing that looks to be definite is a plunge into Arctic temperatures this week. In fact, the cold front which is the harbinger of that plunge is already perched across Virginia as shown here:

Low pressure developing over the Southeast along this boundary is forecast to push moisture into Mecklenburg county, with rain showers already supposed to be dotting the area as this is being written. However, at the moment radar isn't showing any precipitation that looks like it could reach the county this morning. The small amount that may arrive later today will be liquid rain as temperatures top out in the low 40s.

Meanwhile, most weather forecast models are showing very little - if any - precipitation throughout the upcoming work week. The official National Weather Service forecast shows a chance of light snow Tuesday night from another system moving up the coast. However, at the moment the moisture from that system looks to stay south and east of the county. Things could change, so we'll keep an eye on that.

What IS certain is several days of very cold weather. By Monday morning temperatures will be back down in the low 20s, while afternoon highs struggle only into the upper 20s. Northwest winds gusting up to 20 mph will create dangerous wind chills, so be sure to bundle up in layers. Below freezing temperatures will continue throughout until sometime Thursday afternoon, when local thermometers look to climb into the mid-30s.