As freezing temps return, could we see snow this week?

Hunker down and bundle up - the chill is definitely going to be back this week.

Predictions from the National Weather Service put us on path toward lows in the bottom 20s for every day other than Monday night, when we'll instead see a still-below-freezing low of 31 degrees.

Monday and most of Tuesday should be fairly moderate while the sun is out, with temperatures we've pretty much come to expect this season - a steady, bracing-but-not bone-rattling hold at the low-to-mid 40s, with the high breaching 55 at the peak of the day.

The real time to watch for will be Tuesday night and Wednesday. Temperatures on Tuesday night will drop down fast into the 20s and stay there. The high for Wednesday is expected to be just a few degrees above freezing, and the low is an icy 21 degrees.

On top of that, wind chill could plunge temperatures into the teens in central Georgia and even into the single digits and below in the northern counties.

That's pretty dang cold. But could it mean snow for Columbus?

According to the National Weather Service, it's possible. The NWS is keeping a close eye on another strong cold front that will swing those chilling temperatures out way, and that front could interact with the moisture in the air to drop snow across the state Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

"Still thinking generally near 1 inch in the far north and now closer to a quarter to half inch farther south including the Atlanta metro," the forecaster wrote, adding that there could be "a tenth of an inch as far south as Columbus to Macon to Warrenton."

Right now, the NWS puts our chances of seeing that dusting at about 30 percent.

After Wednesday, we should see things warm up a little. Temperatures will be back in the 40s and low 50s, although nighttime temperatures will still plunge back into the 20s.

Going into the weekend, things get a little more uncertain, but the NWS generally expects the warming trend to continue. By Sunday, we could be pushing the high 60s during the day - a welcome respite after so many blustery cold mornings.

This story was originally published January 15, 2018 at 7:34 AM with the headline "As freezing temps return, could we see snow this week?."