Tuesday, January 14 forecast: A little warmer each day and then another Polar plunge

Monday was a cold start to the week with temperatures near freezing. Today will be a little warmer and Wednesday will be warmer still. We'll be in the 50s before we know it, but don't expect the mild weather to last long.

Temperatures this afternoon will be around 40°, especially along and south of Highway 60. A weak cold front will give a quick shot of colder air across Central Missouri later today. Temperatures to the north of Springfield will be chilly in the low 30s.

The pattern looks pretty seasonable Wednesday before a January thaw kicks in Thursday and Friday. The big warmup is compliments of a pattern shift with a more west-to-east flow across the nation blowing out much of the frigid air.

The short period of warmer weather across the nation will be replaced by a Siberian blast and a chunk of polar vortex. This will spin down towards the Great Lakes bringing a very cold air mass with it.

The cold will invade on Saturday and get colder from Sunday into early next week. This looks like the coldest air mass for our area since the extreme cold wave we experienced last January. Temperatures will likely remain below freezing for several days with lows that could dip below zero. Dangerously low wind chills and temperatures are expected Sunday through Tuesday morning. The cold could come in with a bit of light snow on Sunday, but amounts look very light at this stage. MLK Day looks like it could be one of the coldest on record for our area.