While today is expected to be sunny and about 45 degrees, with slightly colder temperatures and a chance of snow on Sunday, meteorologists say the latter part of January will bring more typical winter weather.

AccuWeather reports enough cold air will linger across the midwestern and eastern United States during the latter half of January to increase the chance of snow in areas that have received little so far this season.Following a complex storm that will bring snow, ice and rain to portions of the Midwest and interior Northeast, another wave of arctic air will sweep southeastward this weekend.According to AccuWeather senior meteorologist Brett Anderson, "In the Midwest, this new blast of arctic air will be as cold as that of the start of this week, but for much of the Northeast it will be the coldest of the season so far."Highs will be held to the 20s or lower over much of the Ohio Valley, the central Appalachians and New England as the air expands southeastward. Temperatures may struggle to reach the freezing mark on occasion in the Interstate 95 corridor of the mid-Atlantic."Some mild air will mix in from the Pacific Ocean across much of the central and eastern United States before the end of the month and will allow temperatures to trend back to near average," Anderson said.The overall temperature rebound in the Midwest and Northeast in the wake of the mid-month cold blast will be lower than has occurred so far this season.Even as the core of the arctic air settles off the coast, enough cold air may remain behind to allow storms that roll along to have greater chances at bringing snow or some sort of wintry precipitation when compared to early winter.The trusty Farmer's Almanac expects very cold weather next week for our area, then milder temperatures toward the end of the month.The almanac anticipates slightly higher than normal temperatures and precipitation in February.It calls for temperatures of 32 degrees (2 degrees above average); precipitation of 3.5 inches (1 inch above average).Jim Bunker, observing program leader for the National Weather Service, sums up the weird weather patterns."Two words: El Niño," he said."Basically, temperatures have been running a little more than normal from last year," he said.Using Allentown as a reference, the average temperature in December 2015 was about 45.8 degrees. The normal is 32.3 degrees. In December 2014, the average was 37 degrees."We are, through at least January, February and March, looking at a 45 percent probability of being above normal for temperatures," he said. "The normal average for Allentown is about 28-30 degrees through end of March."He expects precipitation to be near normal.Bunker emphasized that the figures are the probability forecast, not the actual forecast. The NWS maintains a site at weather.gov/phi. From there, click on "climate and past weather," then go to "climate prediction." The NWS also has a Facebook page that includes forecasts.The unusually warm winter has made homeowners happy with lower heating bills. Fuel companies, not so much.Lindsay Jerolaman, marketing specialist for R.F. Ohl, Lehighton, said sales have "been slow, but it's starting to pick up now since it's getting a little colder. I think everybody's feeling the push. We're keeping our heads above water, but it was 70 degrees on Christmas. I had my windows open."Jerolaman didn't have sales figures handy.As for the rest of the winter, it's wait and see."I don't think anybody really knows what's going to happen," she said. "It depends on who you talk to."Lisa Hiles of Hiles Brothers Plumbing, Heating and Fuel Company, Summit Hill, said the warm weather combined with unusually low prices, are a double-whammy.According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average price for home heating oil in our region was $2.050 per gallon on Dec. 7, dropping to $1.867 as of Jan. 11."Up until two weeks ago, we were not selling nearly as much oil. But it makes for a very happy customer. The slow sales coupled with the low price of oil makes it even better for customer," she said.