A cold weather pattern is settling into the Pittsburgh area this week.

Any Alert Days Ahead? Tuesday is a First Alert Weather Day due to cold temperatures. Potential First Alert Weather Days due to cold weather are possible this weekend and early next week.

Aware: Cold Weather Advisories are in place for our entire coverage area starting tonight at 9 p.m. and going through 12 p.m on Tuesday. 

Last week I threw out a couple of times that this week may very well be the coldest week of the year. If you start today and go through next Sunday, I have temperatures falling to single digits on five of the 7 days. It is going to be VERY cold, so please be prepared.

Before we get to the cold, let's talk about snow showers that will be around through the afternoon. These off-and-on showers will be heavy enough at times to cover area roads briefly. Visibility will also be down if you are unfortunate enough to roll through one while driving.  Road conditions can certainly change quickly so be prepared for this. At this point, it looks like the best chance for snow showers for the rest of the day comes from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Snow totals of 1" - 1.5" will be possible in Pittsburgh. You may not notice how much falls as it will fall over several hours, with roads crews able to mostly stay ahead of the snow.

The big story for the week is the cold. Right now we have a Cold Weather Advisory in place for the entire area due to expected cold. Morning temperatures will dip to around 5° on Tuesday morning.  Wind chill values are expected to be around -5°.  

With temperatures that cold, frostbite could become an issue in as little as an hour. Frostbite occurs when blood vessels rapidly constrict before water in your bloodstream freezes. This causes internal bruising and can even lead to limb loss if allowed to progress too far. 

The dangerous cold weather is expected to stick around this week, with single-digit morning temps also expected on Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and next Tuesday. Wind chills on each of these mornings will likely drop to below 0°.  Wind chills on Saturday morning could dip to as cold as -15° to -20°. 

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