Little Snow Cover Here, but Still Pretty Cold

It could always be worse, but coming off of a two week stretch where temperatures were a little above average doesn't make the cold outside now feel any better.

The majority of our December snow is gone with the exception of a few dirty snow piles that will take some time to melt away.  And even without the snow on the ground our temperatures are still falling 10 to 15 degrees below average.  The source region for the cold the next several days is central Canada.  Cold Canadian high pressure will remain over the High Plains Wednesday night and Thursday before settling over the Great Lakes Friday.  This high is pulling down a very cold air mass from the north because for the past couple of weeks the cold has been building to the north with little available sunlight in the higher latitudes.

Even though we don't have much snow on the ground locally, there is still plenty of snow to the north.  And with winds coming in from the that direction these next few days it helps to lock in the cold over the Midwest and Great Lakes.  It's not as cold as what it *could be if we did have a little more snow, but it's cold enough.  Wind chills west of Freeport for a time Wednesday evening fell very close to -20 degrees.  Wind chills will remain below zero through the start of Saturday.