Tracking snow, wind, and cold that will make for dangerous holiday travel

TODAY: The relative quiet before the storm, Wednesday won't be much to write home about. Expect a cloudy day, with a high in the upper 30s as wind turn from the south late this morning.

TONIGHT: Winds will stay southerly, keeping us in the 30s through the majority of the night, until the arrival of the much awaited cold front, early Thursday morning.

EXTENDED: This is the cold front that is driving our approaching winter storm. Generally speaking, this system will enter around 3-5 am in the far west, and exit by early afternoon in the far east. The storm is expected to dump anywhere from 2-4 inches for most, with slightly lower totals possible near I-44. More detail on this can be found in our Weather Alert Day Blog. Thursday's high will come early in the morning, ahead of the front as we expect temperatures to plummet behind the front in 20-30+ mph winds from almost the due north to cool us to subzero by the late evening. Thursday night through Friday, winds will continue to advect cold air into the region, while also bringing wind chills into the 20-40 below zero range. This is when the cold will be especially life threatening. This wind will also bring visibility concerns, not only while snow is falling, but well after it stops Thursday night into Friday. Friday, high temperatures are forecast in the single digits, with temperatures expected to fall below zero again overnight into Saturday morning. This will almost certainly render us a white Christmas unless all of the snow blows straight into Arkansas. Snow won't be able to melt, with temperatures remaining well below freezing until at the soonest, Monday afternoon, but maybe even Tuesday. In addition to this, quick passing system may give us a glancing blow early next week, but for now, too much uncertainty surrounds this wave, so for now, we'll leave it at that, and try to get through Thursday!