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On the Radar with Jess

Jan 13: Arctic Cold and Southern Snow Possibilities

Jessica Arnoldy
Jessica Arnoldy
 

As we head into the middle of January, the temperatures will definitely feel like winter after a warm start to the month. Many locations are running over 10 degrees above average, especially in the center of the country:

A color-coded map of the continental United States showing mean temperature anomalies in Fahrenheit for January 1 to 12, 2026, with varying shades indicating temperature differences.

In fact, some of those locations have their warmest start to the month on record:

While the West will remain warm, much of the eastern half of the country will drop below average after several shots of cold air move through. The below animation shows the daily temperature departure from Thursday Jan 15 through Wednesday Jan 21:

Weather map showing temperature anomalies across the United States for mid-January 2026. Areas in red indicate higher temperatures, while blue indicates lower temperatures.

Southern Snow

What people really care about though, is will this cold air bring any snow chances? There has been a lot of chatter across social media the past week of possible snow across the south. The first push of cold air will bring some snow, but it will be confined to the Great Lakes and Western slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. The below is the 24-hr snow total forecast from Wed AM to Thu AM:

Map showing predicted snowfall amounts (in inches) across the Midwest and Northeast regions of the United States for January 15, 2026, with varying intensities indicated by colors.

The weekend system that brings a reinforcing shot of cold air also has the potential to produce snow. From Friday morning to Saturday morning, that snow is once again confined to the Great Lakes and slopes of the Appalachian Mountains:

Weather map showing predicted snowfall accumulation in inches across the United States for a 24-hour period, valid on January 17, 2026.

While the odds for accumulating snow across the Southeast are pretty low at this point, they aren’t zero. Below is the chance for an inch of snow from Sat 7 pm ET to Sun 7 pm ET:

Map displaying the probability of 24-hour snowfall of 1 inch or more across the southeastern United States, valid for January 19, 2026. Areas shaded in purple indicate higher probabilities.

Snow is extremely unlikely at this point. However, minor tweaks in the path of a system can result in more snow than what is currently expected. This won’t be the only chance for snow through the rest of the month, however. The last full week of January is also expected to be below average:

Map displaying the 2-meter temperature anomaly across the United States, showing varying temperatures with color gradients from blue (cooler) to orange (warmer), for the period of January 20 to January 27, 2026.

Florida Rain and Cold

Let’s take a closer look at Florida and the impacts it will get from the cold air expected to dive south. First of all, some rain will fall across the drought-stricken state. The below is the 48-HR rain forecast from Wed 7 am to Fri 7 am:

Map showing 48-hour precipitation forecast for the southeastern United States, with varying amounts of rainfall indicated in a color gradient from blue to green and gray.

Behind this rain, temperatures across the state will plummet. Look at the forecast low temperatures across the state on Friday morning:

Weather map showing minimum temperature predictions for the southeastern U.S. on January 16, 2026, with color gradients indicating different temperature ranges.

Below-freezing temperatures will reach all the way to Central Florida! A record low is even possible for Melbourne and Lakeland!

 

 

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