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Last January, our area had over a dozen days where the high temperature for the month was 32 or colder, including six days with high temperatures that couldn't get above 30 degrees. Fans of cold Januaries aren't going to get their fill around here this year. A more fitting place might be Fairbanks, AK

Not below freezing...below zero.

Those who want snow may want to check out Cordova or Valdez, AK, both places have picked up feet of snow so far this month, with Valdez's snow cover over five feet on the ground as of yesterday.

The prevalent winter pattern has kept Alaska almost exclusively in an ice box, colder than most years, while keeping the vast majority of the lower 48 in what some meteorologists call a winter blowtorch pattern.  Mild winds aloft, a lack of blocking over Greenland, and a recipe that spells doom for those who are fans of cold and snow along the East Coast.

You know it's a bad winter when Midland, TX has more snow this winter than Chicago.

The coming week won't bring anything in the way of snow, although there will be a decent amount of winter chill around on Monday and again Wednesday-Thursday. Monday's chill will be in retreat as clouds increase and a light rain/drizzle move in at night. We could see some freezing rain or sleet in the Poconos -- likely not around the suburbs though. After the midweek cold shot, the pattern will transition out of that and towards a much milder regime. It's possible we get some flurries on Thursday night as a clipper passes north of the region, and it's also possible that we see some showers on Saturday as we fully transition out of chill.   

What will be interesting to watch for those who suffer from Spring Fever is how warm we get early next week. Computer modeling is barking rather strongly at the potential of a major warm up in the eastern half of the country for next Sunday through Tuesday, with Monday arguably the warmest day of that warm up. I'm pretty sure we'll have a shot at 60 degrees on Monday...what remains to be seen is if we can make a run at even warmer temperatures. At least the end of next weekend looks much warmer than the end of this past weekend.

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Tom Thunstrom is the editor and publisher of Phillyweather.net. You can follow the site on twitter @phillywx.