It’s winter, with short days and holidays on the calendar.

So, it’s not that unusual for it to be this cold.

Typically, however, we would get a cold burst like this for a few days followed up by a more seasonal high temperature of 50 degrees. But this isn’t letting up for a while, except for a brief dash into the 40s this week.

We’ve got temperatures 10 to 15 degrees below normal and more on tap for the next week-and-a-half. America will have a new college football national champion (Jan. 8, 2018) before temperatures are forecast to normalize.

We’re not just talking chilly, either. These are daily temperatures more likely for Michigan than Mississippi. Today’s high, 35 degrees; low 19 degrees. The forecast high on New Year’s Eve: Upper 20’s; low near 11 degrees. And on and on it goes.

You can thank the sagging jet stream for this holiday gift.

This big question many want to know, of course, is whether we will get snow and ice.

That’s where the forecast gets tricky. Usually, when Oxford gets two weeks of well-below normal temps in late December, early January, snow is on its way. But the pattern is looking rather dry so far. The best chance will be around New Year’s but it’s too early to tell.

For now, all we know is that unusual cold is here and it is here to stay a while. So, bundle up.