Douglas: Not much snow, but the cold is coming

Not much snow in the forecast looking out 10 days. But the Vikings are 14-2. Life is a series of trade-offs.

Yesterday was the ninth day in a row of metro highs at or above 32 degrees. Nineteen days of highs at 32 or above in December.

Our mild, melty December will give way to a rude reckoning in January, with a series of character-building cold fronts. Highs will be stuck in the teens by late this week, and next week will bring a few crisp single-digit high days and maybe three or four nights below zero.

That’s not even close to record-setting, but compared to December it will feel like a cold slap across the face. Next week may be the coldest week of the winter.

A lack of snow cover will keep us 5-10 degrees “warmer” than if we had snow on the ground, reflecting much of the sun’s energy back into space. Little consolation for snow lovers.

It will be too cold to snow (much); numbing air shoving the storm track to our south looking out one to two weeks.

Look at the bright side. We’ve picked up 47 seconds of daylight since Dec. 21. Happy New Year!