Winter's One-Two Punch! 

If today's first part of the big winter cool down was like just inching your toes into the ocean to get used to the colder water, what's coming tonight through Wednesday morning is like taking the polar bear plunge! As I write this, just before 10 pm on Monday night, temperatures are crashing through the 40s across much of the area and already nosing into the upper 30s across Marion County. Tonight will easily be the coldest night of the season for much of the area -- and we're still hours away from the arrival of an arctic front!

Temperatures will drop into the upper 20s across Marion County with freezing temperatures expected across the rest of the northern tier. This is where a freeze warning is in effect for tonight. It will not, however, be a long duration freeze: at most, expect 2-3 hours of temperatures at or below freezing across parts of the Marion County. Elsewhere, where the thermometer does get to or below 32 degrees, it's an hour or two at most. This won't be enough to do much damage to crops across the area, but it is a good idea to bring in any cold sensitive plants you may have around your house. As an arctic front approaches overnight, the wind will be up from the NW at 10-20 mph, so wind chills will be an issue after midnight. There's a wind chill advisory in place as it will feel like it's in the mid to upper 20s through much of the area by sunrise Tuesday.

Once the arctic front passes us by sunrise Tuesday, we're in the heart of the cold for about 24 hours. I did some digging, and you have to go all the way back to January 10, 2010, to find an afternoon as cold as what we'll have Tuesday. Most of the area will be in the mid to upper 40s for highs -- that's a few degrees below the average lows for this time of year! There will,  however, be lots of sunshine. The wind will subside late Tuesday afternoon, leading us into a long-duration freeze Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Temperatures will crash to the freezing mark or below for all of central Florida aside from the immediate Brevard County coastline. It will be a long-duration freeze, too, with up to 10 hours at or below freezing across Marion County and 5-7 hours through the metro.

We'll turn the corner toward warmer temperatures by Wednesday afternoon (although it will still be chilly with highs in the upper 50s!). By the end of the week, we'll be back in the 70s, keeping with the trend this winter of cold snaps that just don't last very long. But this will be an intense one while it does!

Stay warm!

Brian Monahan