12:40 PM | An even colder Arctic air outbreak next week and an update on the Sunday night/Monday storm

[Forecasted surface temperature anomalies for next Tuesday; map courtesy tropicaltidbits.com]

Discussion

It’ll remain cold this weekend and well below normal for this time of year, but an even colder air mass is destined to reach the Mid-Atlantic region on Tuesday. That next Arctic blast arrives on Tuesday with strong NW winds following a storm system that will impact our area to begin the new week. Temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday are likely to hold in the 30’s for highs around here despite the return of some sunshine on each of those days. The 12Z GFS 2-meter temperature anomaly forecast chart for next Tuesday morning depicts the widespread below-normal cold throughout much of the nation (blues, purples; map courtesy tropicaltidbits.com). It’ll stay cold on Thursday as well, but moderation in temperatures is likely at the end of next week and into the beginning of Thanksgiving week.

As far as the Sunday night/Monday storm is concerned, odds favor rain during the bulk of this next event in the immediate I-95 corridor; however, it could be just cold enough at the onset early Sunday night for a mixture of rain, sleet and/or snow to occur for a brief time and there is a chance that the storm ends as a brief period of snow late Monday. No matter what type of precipitation actually falls on Sunday night and Monday - and primarily rain is expected - the coldest air of the season so far is sure to follow for Tuesday and Wednesday.