Wednesday, December 18 forecast: Enjoy Thursday, cold blast arrives Friday morning

Rainfall cleared out early and so did the clouds, at least in most areas. Low cloudiness swept back across Central Missouri blanketing areas from Warsaw to Rolla during the afternoon.

Tonight will be cold and quiet with temperatures slipping into the upper 20s and low 30s. Thursday will start frosty with pockets of fog south of the interstate. Temperatures will climb quickly with a mostly sunny and mild afternoon in store.

Another cold front will blow through late Thursday night with gusty winds and a more frigid round of air. The day will be our coldest of the week with a colder feel to the pattern persisting through the weekend.

The pipeline of cold air will once again shut down approaching Christmas with milder weather through the Christmas holiday. There will also be another storm just ahead of Christmas, soaking the area just ahead of Santa's big ride. A mild pattern is expected to continue through the remainder of Christmas week with thunderstorms possible as we finish the week.