BY DAWN BAUMGARTNER VAUGHAN

dvaughan@heraldsun.com; 419-6563

DURHAM — It was cold Sunday. It is cold today. It’ll be cold again Tuesday. Temperatures will remain well below average this week.

Scott Sharp of the National Weather Service office in Raleigh said that the average high this time of year is usually around 50 degrees. Instead we’re feeling temperatures in the mid-30s and below because of repeated patterns of arctic air coming every few days from the Northwest. Sharp said cold blasts usually come for just a day or two and then temperatures warm up.

The skies remain clear and sunny for now. There’s a slight chance of light snow late in the week, Sharp said, but the flurries may not arrive. A low pressure system is expected to move to the Carolina coast from the Gulf of Mexico. The majority of the week will be dry and cold, he said.

Even with below normal temperatures in Durham, we are still not near any record lows for January, which dip to the single digits. The Climate Prediction Center predicts that winter in the Southeast United States will probably have below normal temperatures. Preparations for the cold include protecting exposed water pipes, checking heating units, closing crawl space vents and dressing appropriately if going outside.

The high today will be 34 degrees, with a low tonight of 19 degrees. On Tuesday: high 35, low 18. On Wednesday: high 38, low 21.