Let's start with some good news...there are going to be intervals of average to perhaps even above-average temperatures for the rest of the month. There will actually be some decent weather on Thursday and Friday from a temperature standpoint (if we don't have low clouds), and perhaps even above average. The snowpack though, although shrinking, is still an issue for temperature forecasts and will continue to be so until it's gone, which is still going to take a while. Hey, at least we're not alone! Forty-seven percent of the country is covered in at least some snow this morning. If the following map is correct, only Florida lacks snow somewhere in its borders. Perhaps Alabama has no snow too, but you get the point. There is snow in the mountains in the Southwestern U.S., in parts of northern Georgia and into the Carolinas. Meanwhile, up toward the North Pole, bitterly cold air is waiting to be unleashed into the Northwestern Territories of Canada, which will happen on Friday and then spread towards us over the weekend, sending us into another deep freeze for several days. Forecast: Today: Partly to mostly sunny skies and chilly. Temperatures won't go too far with highs in the low to mid-20s. Breezy this morning with lighter afternoon winds Tonight: Fair and cold with lows back into the single digits Tomorrow: Partly to mostly cloudy at times. Cold with highs in the upper 20s Thursday: Tricky day for temperatures because of the snowpack, but highs could pop into the 40° range Discussion: This morning's weather map shows a cold front passing through the region. Behind it is some pretty cold air that is oozing southwards. Sub-zero temperatures this morning are lined up from I-80 northwards into the upper Midwest. There is an area of high pressure delivering this air in the upper Midwest this morning. This colder air mass will be with us for the next 24 hours but will start sliding away tomorrow evening. Temperatures on Wednesday night won't be as cold as tonight's lows and that is a good base for "milder" air to return on Thursday and Friday, as well. There is a lot of snow on the ground thoughout the region: KCI has reported 5" of snow depth and you can see above that even with a west-southwest wind on Thursday, that wind will be blowing over the current snowpack. IF we didn't have this snow cover, we'd likely be making a nice run well into the 50s, if not near 60°, on Friday. But alas, that won't be the case. Regardless, we'll continue to melt and decrease the snow cover into Friday afternoon before the next change comes our way. That change is the unleashing of the arctic air; it will break through Canada and flow quickly into the U.S. It will also be an expansive air mass. What always fascinates me is how these air masses are created and then enlarged very quickly. Below is a look at the temperature anomalies up to around 5,000 feet. Starting on Friday and continuing through next Wednesday before releasing and moderating later next week. Look towards the northern coast of Alaska. The greens>blues>purples are the colder temperature above the surface. Oranges and reds are warmer air aloft: You can see the genesis of the colder air and the unleashing of the arctic dogs through the prairies of Canada and southwards. This air mass oozes into the region to start the weekend. Saturday likely remains in the 20s, perhaps even falling a bit, then Sunday through Tuesday morning we are pretty much in the arctic air before it starts releasing locally towards Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday next week. As the front moves through into the less cold air, there actually may be some showers developing south and east of KC Friday night. The concern for Saturday though would be the gusty winds in the morning and the breezy conditions in the afternoon. So, wind chills will be a factor for the football game. This won't be a repeat though of what happened last year for the Miami playoff game, although wind chills will be in that 10-15° range, perhaps colder towards the end of the game. At this point this transition doesn't look to bring any significant snows to the area, perhaps some flurries in the morning on Saturday. The GFS ensembles seem to sort of have a reasonable idea of the changes. The Saturday highs though are wrong. It will be colder. Notice how this colder air mass, after it releases and moves away, we kind of start to level things out a bit without the bigger down trends to temperatures. We sort of go into what may be more of an up-and-down scenario. From a snow standpoint, nothing really concerning is showing up for a while. So for those of you who are concerned about that aspect of winter weather, nothing big showing up. There are some suggestions that perhaps things may change towards the end of the month as the flow aloft alters. That's low confidence right now. Speaking of snow, it's been one of the snowiest starts to a calendar year in KC weather record history. and also one of the snowier starts to winter in KC weather record history. So we have that going for us, or not, depending on your perspective of snow. By the way, if you're wondering about the time we've had snow on the ground, we're at 10 days of snow with at least 1" of snow on the ground, going back two Sunday's ago with the start of the blizzard. This isn't even close to the record of 52(!) days That's it for today. The feature photo is from Matthew Smith. Joe