More bone-chilling mornings in store this week

The National Weather Service still sees plenty of cold weather in store for us, both in the short term and the extended look for the rest of January.

High pressure will start off the week dry with colder conditions compared to the brief mild spell today that warmed us up to 46 degrees. 

A blast of arctic cold air is coming with a cold front`s passage tonight. A quick retreat to 21 on Monday morning will continue into the teens on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the coldest morning wind chills around zero in southern Illinois.

A dusting of snow is possible Tuesday.

Thursday brings a move closer to seasonal temperatures or above (51 on Friday) as we head into next weekend.

But NOAA's 8-to-14 day outlook predicts that the central third of the nation will be covered by a blanket of Arctic air. That points to colder than average temperatures for Jan. 19-25. Our region is on the eastern edge of that cold air, so it will probably take even longer for that air mass to pass to the east over us, into the final week of the month.