AFTER MONDAY'S RAIN, JANUARY-LIKE COLD FOR TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY

1. Quiet weekend overall, but continued unseasonably cold for this time of year. Sunday actually warms towards the upper 40s, but it's still a few degrees below average high temps. Saturday night is quite cold, but winds are light.

2. Sunday night into Monday: Coastal storm brings a good soaking rain to NYC and the coastal plain. Further north and west across the Hudson Valley, precip should start as snow, making for a slick Monday morning commute. Warming temps means that any frozen precip will be a nuisance; rain will work in as the dominant precip type by mid-morning Monday.

Accuweather.com

3. Monday night, it begins to clear, but the winds start to turn northerly. These winds will help to usher in the coldest air of the fall season; temps will be hard-pressed to get out of the 30s Tuesday and again Wednesday.  Strong winds Tuesday will make it feel like it's in the 20s!!

Intellicast.com Temps

4. Some moderation of temps by Thursday, with highs in the mid 40s; however, readings will be below-normal levels, as our normal high temps should still be near 50 degrees.

VIDEO: SHARP NOVEMBER COLD TAKING HOLD....

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WINTER'S OPENING SALVO ARRIVES AHEAD OF SCHEDULE....

1. Dry through much of this week. Clouds increase on Tuesday as temps warm up nicely. Available moisture is limited, so chances of very light rain will be confined to late at night Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning.

2. By Thursday, the first of many strong shots of cold air will begin to plummet into the region on a stiff northerly wind. Potential is there for a small storm system to give us precip (rain/snow) for late Thursday night into Friday morning, particularly towards the coast. Update will be needed.

3. By Friday afternoon, even more cold air rushes in! Temps over the weekend are stuck in 40s during the day through at least next Monday.

Overall pattern late week and early next week: Cioffi: PIX-11/Facebook

4.  On the heels of the Thursday "clipper low," a stronger, more vigorous storm will develop near the Gulf of Mexico and track northward for early next week. This system has the chance to offer a more substantial round of rain/snow Sunday night into Monday, but models have been inconsistent in terms of the storms' eventual track. Bears watching.

5. Outstanding mid-November cold (compared to averages for this time of year) will hold its grip in place through the 20th. Persistent, blocking pattern is the culprit, along with above-normal snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere. We should expect many days where highs are only in the upper 30s and lower 40s, with lows in the upper 20s to lower 30s area-wide; even colder away from NYC at night!

Rutgers University Snow Lab:
Left: Snow Cover 10/8/14
Right: Snow Cover 11/8/14

Intellicast Temp Forecast

Weatherspark.com: Average highs in November for NYC

Weatherspark: Average time spent in temp categories since 1869