Chilly Temps This Week

Saturday and Sunday evening will provide some of the coolest temperatures in a winter that has broken records as one of the warmest in history.

Forecasters predict temperatures in the high 20s on both evenings followed by warmer, sunny weather during the daylight hours.

In any normal winter, the slight dip below freezing would not be news, but the average temperature in January was 65 this year. Normally, the mercury hovers around 38 degrees, according to the National Weather service.

The warming trend is being noticed outside the Charleston area, too.

A report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has identified January 2012 as the fourth-warmest January on record for the contiguous United States, according to a new release issued today.

Nine states recorded their top ten warmest average temperatures for January in 2012.

Across the country, temperatures hovered around 41 degrees in January while normal temps usually stay at 36, according the news release.

You can thank the jet stream for all the great weather. Instead of bringing cold air from the North to the continental U.S., the stream has been pushing storms across the continent into the ocean.

"It's warmer this year mainly because of the jet stream pattern," said AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Michael Pigott. "Essentially, we've seen a lot of storms moving from west to east, and not a lot traveling northward or southward."

While the weather has been wonderful, the jet stream hasn't delivered much moisture.

Normally, the Charleston area sees just less than 4 inches of precipitation during the first month of the year, but the clouds delivered only a paltry half inch of rain.

As with normal freezes, bring in plates and animals, but don't get settled in for lasting cool weather. The forecast calls for highs in the 70s by the middle of next week.