Arctic air poised to drop into Ohio next week

CLEVELAND - So far, winter has been kind. The cold arrived on Dec. 21 and brought enough snow to make our holidays festive.

The January thaw was equally as enjoyable. Sixty-degree temperatures last weekend allowed many of us to dismantle our outdoor lighting displays frost-bite free.

But Mother Nature will soon unleash a big surprise on northern Ohio. A batch of bitter cold, Arctic air has been building across the Canadian Prairie for the past week. It has been kept at bay by a stalled front over the Tennessee Valley. That front is scheduled to slide east during the weekend.

The next front to cross Ohio will arrive on Sunday. The cold air will spill in to our area behind this front beginning Sunday. Highs Sunday will struggle into the 20s with gusty winds. Monday's high temperatures won't likely make it out of the teens with overnight lows in the single digits. That will be the trend through much of next week and beyond.

The cold air is expected to hang around quite a while. It will linger through the end of January and into at least the first two weeks of February.

On top of that, Lake Erie is ice free. That means we are primed for two or three significant lake effect snow events through the beginning of February.

The first round of snow squalls will likely arrive late Monday into Tuesday. Of course, with all lake effect events, the heaviest snows fall "where squalls persist."

Here are the forecasted high/low temperatures for next week: Brrrr!

1/20 SUNDAY: High-28/Low-22

1/21 MONDAY: 20/14

1/22 TUESDAY: 18/9

1/23 WEDNESDAY: 19/11

1/24 THURSDAY: 18/13

1/25 FRIDAY: 16/4

1/26 SATURDAY: 12/5