REAL Winter Front and Center

You knew it would come at some point, right? My January 3rd blog post told you to be careful with what you ask for. I know some of you reading this never asked for the cold, but there's nothing you can do about it now. It's likely coming.

It will not be anything unusual for January, but it will be a shock to the system. After highs this week in the 50s and a relatively mild winter so far, we'll take a significant dip next week and it should kick off Saturday.

1) One round of LIGHT rain will be possible Thursday

2) A powerful cold front will sweep across the state Friday night into Saturday with rain and a few storms depending on how this evolves.

3) Missouri could get clobbered once again by a big snow

4) Expect a significant temperature gradient as the front moves through Arkansas

5) It would not be impossible for a few flurries to fall as the cold air rushes in, but confidence of this is low.

6) Wind chill values may tank well into the single digits.

7) After the initial surge of cold air, something may try to follow later the following week. You know what we always say, "with arctic air in place, anything can happen."

The map below is courtesy of WeatherBell.com. Ignore the amounts over Arkansas. That model output is highly questionable. However, notice the heavy snow with the late week storm system from Kansas to New England. The storm system will take a similar track to the one a few days ago.

That snowpack is important to our weather! As cold, arctic air moves over that fresh snowpack, it may moderate little or not at all. It's like a giant tundra north of Arkansas with no way to warm the air mass. The models will likely not handle this element well.

So where does this put our temperatures? It's too early to say, but highs in the 20s and 30s with lows in the teens will certainly be possible. STAY WITH CHANNEL 7 FOR THE NEWEST INFORMATION AND WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT.