Expect a January Thaw This Week

January hasn't really started on that cold of a note.

Temperatures so far this month are running near average as our "cold snap" has been really full of typical January type weather. That pattern will relax as we work through the course of the coming week, with typical January weather thawing out as the week progresses.

The nation will be pretty mild overall for much of the week, only cooling down late this week in the Pacific Northwest as a push of cold comes in from Canada.

However, our region starts near normal on temperatures and will warm progressively each day, pushing 50 on Wednesday and then probably 50 again by Friday if not Saturday. Thursday may be a notch cooler if only because of the prospect of additional clouds around the region in advance of rain on Thursday night into Friday.

Next weekend looks quite mild – mid 50s (at least) look quite possible around the region.

If you're wondering where the real cold weather has been lurking, check out the Far East. Russia and China have had their coldest winter in some time over the past several weeks, with temperatures in Russia dropping to lower than -50. The polar low in the mid-atmosphere, which typically brings the coldest temperatures to average, has established itself more prominently in East Asia and has been tough to dislodge. This has resulted in a pattern that has kept us "typical" in chill even in our colder periods. This may change in about two weeks time as the cold becomes more prominent in the Arctic latitudes of North America, which may result in a relatively colder end to January in our backyards.

Until then, though, expect increasingly milder weather.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tom Thunstrom is the editor and publisher of Phillyweather.net. You can also follow Phillyweather.net on twitter at @phillywx or on Facebook.