Cold Snap Recap; Now What's On Tap?

We are slowly emerging from the most severe cold snap in 20 years in northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania. The last of the Wind Chill Advisories has expired and the wind is mot much of a factor today.The low of -12 Tuesday morning tied for 9th place on the list of coldest temperatures on record in Youngstown: The high temperature of 2 tied for 8th place on the list of coldest daytime high temperatures: This high resolution satellite image shows visually what the coldest day in 20 years looked like on Tuesday: streaks of lake-effect snow, lakes freezing over, ice jams on rivers and a deep snowpack on the land:Lake Erie is freezing over quickly. Check out this animation showing the increase in ice cover just over the last 48 hours:The first week of January has been remarkably cold in much of the country. This map shows the temperature anomalies (departure from average) so far this month:A nice January Thaw is about to unfold. The Polar Vortex is heading back to where it belongs, in northern Canada and this will allow milder air to sweep across the country.By Saturday, temperatures may reach the lower 50s in Youngstown; that's over 60 degrees warmer than Tuesday morning's low of -12.  While the daytime highs after the 1994 cold outbreak did not get into the 50s....the magnitude of the warming trend was similar (about a 60 degree change):It IS January though and any mild air is not likely to stick around long. The 7-14 day temperature outlook shows colder than average temperatures in our part of the country:Thanks for reading!Eric