A frosty start to the day today in KC as temperatures flatlined last night after initially falling into the mid to upper 20s. We tanked to 24° at 2AM then immediately rose from there to around 32° by 7AM as south winds transported the colder air from yesterday away from the region. The winds today will be blowing from the SW to W and this will be a downslope wind. The air coming towards us will be blowing down the terrain from western KS into the eastern parts of KS. This type of flow allows the air to warm up a bit more as air descends "down the slope" of the terrain...and with enough sunshine today, we should warm into the low to mid-50s in the region. This flow of air is connected to a snowstorm across the upper Midwest. With that, there is a cold front that will sweep through the region tonight. You'll know it as the winds start cranking at 25-40 MPH...and the temperatures quickly fall off. Up and down we continue to go. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Forecast: Today: Mostly sunny and milder with highs in the low to mid-50s Tonight: Mostly clear, windy and turning colder with lows down into the teens and wind chills in the single digits by daybreak Tomorrow: Cold and blustery in the morning with temperatures near 30° in the afternoon Saturday: Teens to mid to upper 30s in the afternoon. Mostly sunny Sunday: Not as cold with highs close to average in the 40s with dry conditions and mostly sunny skies ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Discussion: I hate wasted cold, and we've wasted a lot of cold around these parts over the last few weeks to some degree. For those who like snow...we had our moment in the snow on the last day of November but through the 1st 19+ days of December, a few flurries here or there and that's about it. We've had a trace of snow for the month and that is likely how the month will go down unless something can happen towards the last few days of the month because it won't be next week. It's not like there won't be storms to follow either, and IF there was cold air around, near the surface or aloft, we'd have several snow systems next week. There are even some favorable snow tracks as well BUT with no cold air for the storms to work with...whatever falls, if something falls, will just be rain. So it goes. Today I'm watching some decent snows across the upper Midwest. This is all snow up there... The 8AM surface map shows an nice storm up there... Behind that cold front...the blue line, is much colder weather. The red numbers are the temperatures and notice the plunge from the lower 30s to the single digits from SD to ND. With strong winds as well gusting to 40 MPH, if not higher with snow falling too. That's a nice storm up there and it looks good on the satellite loop as well. That storm will move towards Chicago today and will drag that cold front through the region after sunset tonight. We'll still be around 40° or so around 8PM but then tank from there. There should be an impressive wind surge of 25-40 MPH or so, perhaps higher for some, in far NW MO before 5PM...then towards St Joe at 6PM and then KC around 7-9PM or so from north to south in the Metro. Since you're reading this, you won't be surprised, I don't think. These winds bring in the colder air as well. That will certainly catch your attention tomorrow morning before the winds ease during the afternoon tomorrow. We're set up for a colder Saturday for tailgating before the sunshine allows us to moderate during the afternoon. This continues on Sunday as well. Next week will be mostly in the 40s, perhaps some 50s depending on the sunshine and various rain chances. There is a system on Monday but it will likely create some rain farther south of KC towards I-44. There is another system on Tuesday that may create some rain closer to the Metro. The EURO does try to give us something, although the GFS keeps it well south of here. I may need to add a chance in there. Then another system is more likely later next week, Thursday and or Friday. That may be a bit more significant but again this will be rain. Model data shows highs near to above to much above average all the way into the end of December starting on Sunday. As a matter of fact there may be a few mornings next week there the lows for the day are close to the average highs for late December. Our average temperature this month is only .2° BELOW average through yesterday, with what's ahead, we'll likely end up 1-2° above average for December when things are all said and done. Some tidbits...from Las Vegas... Oh, how many remember this back in 1983? Look at these highs and lows. 7 days from the 18th to the 25th were at or below -10° with 4 of those days not getting to 0° for highs! This was the coldest stretch of weather lasting at least 3 days in a row in KC weather record history OK that's it for today...the feature photo is from Bruce Fischbach out towards Prairie Highlands in west Olathe. Joe