Weather synopsis: Monday January 24

10:02pm boy was it a cold one this morning. Low temperatures dropped close to -10 degrees below zero in Buffalo. This is an extensively cold air mass covering the entire Northeast region down to the north Atlantic coast; Low temperatures in the Bronx, NY dipped to 4 degrees on Sunday night and Monday morning with single digit temperatures extending east over Long Island. Our temperatures will moderate into the 30's, though still cold its certainly more manageable than this past weekend's brutal temperatures. Along with the cold we will have to contend with more wintry precipitation. First we have a weak upper level low pressure system over the Great Lakes enhancing Lake Effect Snow, this will produce a light snow on Tuesday with little accumulations if any over the Northeast. The real big player in our weather will occur over the middle of the week as a strengthening low pressure system moves up the east coast. This system will be a difficult one to forecast. Initially, I though this would be a wind whipped snow event along the coast; however as this storm system tracks north east ward, it strengthens pulling in Atlantic moisture, enough so that is will moderate temperatures right along the coast. The result will be a sloppy mixture of rain, snow and sleet with strong gusty winds. Initially, a light snow will break out - quickly mixing with sleet on Wednesday Night. The sleet will mix with and perhaps change to rain through midnight which could be heavy at times melting some of the snow pack, after midnight cold air will start to work its way back down to the coast. This will change the rain back to snow. The timing of these temperature variations along with the forecast track of this coastal storm will determine the type of impact this storm will have on the region. I think that once the precipitation changes back to snow along the coast Wednesday night and early Thursday morning we could get up to 6 inches of snow accumulations by the time its all said and done. Behind this system more cold air looms, particularly by late next weekend when another blast of brutally cold air is likely.