We've turned the calendar to December and on cue, it appears we will also see our first shot of arctic air rolling in out of Canada for later this week.  Of course before we get there, another opportunity for snow is possible.  Over this past weekend, there were two schools of thought on what may be headed our way for Wednesday.  One mindset was for a cold front to pass by the Wisconsin River Valley early Wednesday, producing a period of snow and snow showers in the region, followed by chilling temperatures Wednesday night and continuing through week's end.  The other opinion was for the cold front to push through as forecast on Wednesday morning, however in the process, slowing down as the front reached the central Great Lakes.  In doing so, low pressure was depicted developing on the southern end of the front down in Texas, and riding quickly northward, spreading accumulating snow across the Badger State.

Although I am a fan of snow, the best way to see if this second option was going to pan out was to allow some time to go by and see if the conditions would remain favorable for this outcome.  Sure enough as of this writing on Monday afternoon, the possibility of that southern low heading our way as diminished and it looks as if we'll instead just have that streak of snow for the morning on Wednesday, following by brisk winds and temperatures heading for the teens and single digits Thursday and Friday.  Nevertheless, don't think that we'll get by without having to once again break out the shovel or broom, but I think at least for the time being, you can keep the snow blower in the garage.

In the wake of this front, our first chance for much of the area to experience temperatures falling below zero is favorable.  The best set up this time of year for the mercury to take the plunge is with clear skies, a relatively light wind, and at least some snow covering the ground.  A good portion of the area will at least have some snow on the ground by the end of the week, and the only thing that may be hard to come by is a clear night and morning.  As alluded to, this will be a wait and see forecast based on cloud cover, but I think it's safe to say you'll have to get out the warm winter coat, along with the hat, mittens, and scarf.  At least the silver lining to this is that we should have highs in the teens or 20s...at least through the middle of next week.