Thanks to a cold, dry air mass overhead, this morning's low in Central Park bottomed out at 14 degrees. That's the second day in a row with a temperature in the teens, the first time that has happened since the middle of last February. Although today will remain cold with a high near 25 and a wind chill in the lower teens, we are on the brink of a warming trend that will peak with highs in the mid 50s later in the week.
This week's warm-up is a coordinated effort between a couple of warm fronts on the ground and an upper level ridge building above as the jet stream retreats northward. As the first warm front approaches tomorrow, the city may see some snow or sleet in the afternoon with a good chance for rain by evening. Tuesday's high in the upper 30s will be near the early January normal. The first warm front will pass on Wednesday morning, putting an end to the rain and letting the temperature rise to the upper 40s.
A second warm front will quickly follow Wednesday night. The air behind that front should be pretty warm. Thursday's high is likely to be in the mid 50s, followed by a Friday max around 50 degrees. It is not yet clear how far north of the city the warm front will travel, but if the front stays nearby we could have a fair bit of rain toward the end of the week. A cold front late on Friday should cool us down to near normal temperatures for the weekend.
