AccuWeather's Bernie Rayno takes a look at the warmup coming this week and the ensuing cold front, which could bring snow for some.

Following two weeks of persistent cold, temperatures are forecast to rise to or above historic levels as high pressure moves off the southeast coast of the United States. This warming will be interrupted by a strong cold front later in the week, bringing rain to many areas and a brief period of colder air.

Northern parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas may see snow and blowing snow late Wednesday night and Thursday, with conditions that could resemble a blizzard. Temperatures are expected to warm again by Saturday before another cold front brings cooler air to the northeast, though it will not be as cold as the recent period.

Rainy and warm conditions on the way for many

After relentless cold over the last two weeks, we're going to be warming things up as we head toward the middle part of the week. Area of high pressure settles off the southeast coast of the United States. We get a west-southwest flow and finally temperatures at or above historic levels. However, that's going to be changing as we get into Thursday, Thursday night as we're tracking a strong cold front. Now out ahead of that front, we warm things up. Then behind it, much colder air comes down for a brief period of time. And when you have a large temperature difference along these boundaries, you betcha you're going to have some precipitation. Now we think this is mostly going to be rain, but there could be a little ending of the rain as a period of snow. We do not think we're going to be looking at rapid freeze-ups as colder air comes in. But keep an eye on this area across northern parts of Wisconsin, of Minnesota and the Dakotas. There's going to be snow and blowing snow as we get into late Wednesday night and Thursday. That will produce some blowing and drifting of snow. It could resemble a blizzard. By the way, we'll warm things up quickly as we head into Saturday before another cold front brings another shot of colder air from the lakes toward the northeast late this upcoming weekend. But it's not as cold as the period we've just gone through.

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