Since my update Sunday a lot has happened in the world. Alabama won. Leo won a Golden Globe and apparently made some sort of awkward face directed at Lady Gaga. And, this photo of an icy car has "gone viral":

Only one of those things will repeat through the rest of January...the icy situation along the Great Lakes. If you know me, you know I need to get a job soon if I'm looking at "what is trending" in the superficial world.

Okay, I digress. The weather pattern over the country remains pretty steady; a ridge over the west (warming temperatures) and a trough over the east (cold temperatures).

Here's a visual for you. This animation shows warmer and colder than average temperatures as expected through the next several days:

You can note the coldest air will slide east of us. From Canada, the cold will move to the Plains, then Great Lakes, and then to the Northeast.

Take a look again and watch closely the end of the animation at what it shows you for the 15th and 16th (this Friday and Saturday) across Colorado and the region. See that pocket of cold that is to stretch out to the east of us? This is extreme cold that will "skirt" our area.

Yes, the cold-focus will be east of us but we have a temperature change coming in toward the end of the week too. I pointed that out in this week's SOTA.

We are still tracking our next weather change for late this week. It appears to be a glancing blow for us with temperatures to take a minor hit for the weekend. This will take Denver's midweek temperatures in the 40s down about 5 to 10-degrees. Not a major change but there are some snow chances with this cool-down.

Overall, I think we should observe this week's pattern and use it for the rest of January. Given the state of the ocean-atmosphere connections I don't see anything to change the 7-day storm cycle.

We will look for another storm system in about a week, and then the following week. Not to say that each will be the same strength. Some may come through with more snow or colder temperatures. This first one, targeting Friday, could be the weakest of the January systems for us.