Arctic air arrives in the coming week

After well above average temperatures to end the week, Mother Nature will soon remind us that it’s still January, forecasters say.

The descent into the brutal cold begins Monday, as a cold front sweeps through and the jet stream dips low into the United States, allowing Arctic temperatures to filter in.

As a blustery wind blows from the west/northwest, temperatures will not reach above the middle to upper 30s at the Jersey Shore, and the wind chill will make it feel colder, according to the National Weather Service.

By Tuesday, forecasters expect a fast moving Alberta Clipper system to track from the Midwest through the New Jersey region, dropping less than an inch of snowfall at the shore by the time it departs by sunset. 

In a forecast discussion issued Sunday morning, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, NJ writes that the one wild card is the possibility of locally higher amounts if the low pressure system begins to intensify as it moves off the coast. 

Another cold front moves through Wednesday, delivering even colder air. Wind chills Wednesday night may be near or below zero, and Thursday’s high temperatures will be in the teens and 20s, according to the National Weather Service.  By late week, temperatures begin to moderate somewhat, although remaining well below normal. 

But the Arctic intrusion may not last for long, as the current probability outlook from the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center calls for a slight chance of above normal temperatures by the following week.