Tracking a weekend warmup before a winter system next week

Saturday: Mostly sunny and milder with highs in the upper 40s.

Sunday: A cold front moving out early in the morning will bring in a few clouds and highs reach near 40.

Extended: Monday will be deceivingly benign ahead of our next winter system later in the week. Southerly winds ahead of this system will boost highs to the mid-50s Monday afternoon; be sure to enjoy it before the bitter cold moves back in. Precipitation develops late on Tuesday, starting off as rain as we'll be above freezing for most of the day. As cold air moves in by Wednesday morning, we could see a transition to freezing rain with a warm nose of air just above the surface. The speed of the colder air will need to be watched. If we stay warmer, we could end up with more of a wintry mix into Wednesday afternoon. If this system ends up tracking a little more east, we'll experience more of the cold air and have the potential to end up with more accumulating snow. We'll likely see snow by late Wednesday night into Thursday regardless, but could end up with more depending on how far east the low goes. After precipitation exits, brutally cold air is expected to move in Thursday night into Friday. Lows could dip below zero in most areas. There will likely be more of these frigid cold snaps over the next 2-3 weeks with some warmer days in between. This is typical of a La Nina pattern and is similar to what we experienced last February.