Day two of the new year continued to feature bare ground across much of the region, but this is going to change for most of you over the next 36 hours. Last year we were in the throes of very cold air and a major snowstorm which dumped 1 to 2 feet of snow across the region. Portland received over a foot of snow, which was one of the bigger snows of the winter. While snow is in the forecast, I don’t see any major snow events through the 10th of the month, at least.

Below is the chart showing the highs, lows and snowfall for last January. Notice Portland saw three days in a row of temperatures well below zero. The thermometer at my house reached 7 below zero during this time. The saying “it’s too cold to snow” certainly did not apply during that storm.

As a modified arctic air mass moves into the region skies will clear and temperatures will fall to the single numbers along the coast and near zero well inland.

Sunshine starts the weekend, but by Saturday evening snow will be breaking out across the region. While it’s been cold enough for snow for a nearly a week, our next storm is going to once again drag very warm up from the south and limit snow amounts. I expect a plowable event for everyone, but you’ll have to move to the mountains to see the heaviest amounts of snow.

Since roads are going to be cold, the snow will stick very quickly Saturday night, and if you are out, expect driving conditions to deteriorate rapidly once the snow begins. This isn’t a blockbuster storm by any measure, but it only takes a small amount of snow and ice to cause big problems on the highways.

The snow will mix with and change to rain and freezing rain early Sunday morning before ending. I expect the precipitation to be mostly over between 10 a.m. over extreme southern York County and 2 p.m. across the Capitol region. The amount of freezing rain isn’t a major event, but will cause hazardous driving Sunday morning. I don’t expect enough icing to cause major power issues or tree damage, but scattered problems are possible. This isn’t a big storm, but in a winter with not much snow or ice thus far it’s significant for some areas.

The rain will come to an end during the morning Sunday and temperatures will rise to the 40s along the coastal plain while farther west highs will stay in the 30s.

Behind the storm another push of arctic air will move into the region. I expect many of us to see below zero morning lows during the middle of next week. Since I expect there to be snow on the ground when next week’s arctic air arrives, it will help to keep those low temperatures quite cold. Welcome to January.