Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.

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• We got graupel, but not on official record
• Moisture could get caught up in cold blast
• Forecast for Weather Journal: Partly print, with frequent Internet
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• Sprinkles or flurries possible Tuesday, but maybe something bigger for the weekend?
• For now, it looks like a quiet, mostly mild week ahead for SW Virginia
• Coldest morning of winter so far likely across much of Southwest Virginia; Tuesday precipitation looking doubtful
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Tonight will likely be the coldest night so far this season, with temperatures falling well into the teens, maybe single digits in some areas. Today's highs may not get above freezing.

By Tuesday night, moisture will be racing in with a new storm system.

Very cold air. Moisture. A sure recipe for some wintry precipitation?

Nope.

Despite this sharp, two-day Arctic blast we're enduring, the overall weather pattern hasn't changed. Low-pressure systems moving in from the west are traveling on paths to the north of our area.

As a result, each new storm system sweeps in milder air ahead of it, and then pulls colder air in behind it.

The moisture pushes out the cold air. The cold air pushes out the moisture. It's a cat chasing its tail for snow lovers, or anyone who'd like a white Christmas.

While some brief freezing rain, sleet or even snow is possible at the front end of this next round of precipitation, it looks like it will be another round of well-above-freezing rain Tuesday night and Wednesday for our region.