- Dec 31, 2017

BREAKING RECORDS IN THE NEW YEAR

Temperatures have been below zero in many parts of the Midwest for two days. In Cedar Rapids temperatures have been below zero 7 am Saturday morning. A little bit of fresh powdery snow fell Saturday night and even with full on sun... it was a *bitter* Sunday.

A giant, strong arctic high pressure system is in overhead. And it's been cold... but it will be even colder tonight. In fact, temperatures will drop to near-record and even record values.

The last time temperatures were this cold in my area was back in December of 2005!

And the white circles indicate temperatures within a degree of record lows Monday morning:

Even with plenty of sunshine on the first day of 2018, temperatures will struggle to get close to zero Monday afternoon. This will likely be the coldest New Years Day on record.

And potential records:

Cedar Rapids has never had a January 1 below zero. Not just will temperatures remain below zero but wind chills will be well below zero the entire day:

Temperatures will remain below the zero mark in much of my area until Tuesday afternoon (and sub-zero temps last even longer in Minnesota).

It is going to be cold the rest of the week with high temperatures in the single digits and low temperatures near and below zero. It is going to be a calm week ahead with little to no snow expected.