I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of the cold. It was nice for a little while, but now it's absurd!

Temperatures in the single digits and the teens are taking their toll. The other day I was involved in a minor car accident. I was pulling out of a parking space and hit a metal gutter pipe that was attached to a concrete pole. Given, I wasn't going that fast (and the pole was in my blind spot). I was traveling maybe 3 MPH at most...and my foot wasn't even on the accelerator. I figured I only scraped the corner of the back bumper. Not the case...the gutter pipe tore through my bumper like punching through a paper bag. Now I have a huge hole and a tear down the corner of the bumper. No amount of duct tape will cure this problem!

You're probably wondering why I'm on this rant. Well, when I took the car to various body shops for estimates, they all told me that due to the harsh cold, it doesn't take much to snap that plastic bumper like a twig. When this accident occurred, it was probably 11°F. I thought cars were supposed to be made better now? My old 1990 T-Bird could have taken a minor bump like that and survived with barely a scratch.

Anyway, let's say some prayers and get this cold out of here (or at least say some so that I become a better driver). Come on spring - you can't get here fast enough! (Just watch - I'll have a rant on hail by June!)

A dense fog advisory is in effect until 10AM for locations South of Kansas City. Temperatures have also fallen below freezing, which brings up a concern for freezing fog. Sunday afternoon will prove to be spring-like with a high of 59. Winds will increase out of the southwest, 10 to 20 MPH.

Tonight clouds will increase with lows falling to the upper 30s. Winds will be southwesterly at 15 to 25 MPH.

On Monday, even warmer! And let's not forget about the wind - 20-30 MPH! Mostly cloudy with afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms. That's right! The atmosphere looks to become slightly unstable and a rumble or two is not out of the question. The high on Monday will be 59.

By Tuesday morning - if there is enough moisture leftover once the colder air arrives - Snow is possible. Accumulations will probably be pretty light. Highs Tuesday through next Sunday will be in the 30s with overnight lows in the teens and 20s.

Next chance for precipitation after the Monday/Tuesday event, will be late Thursday into Friday morning. First the rain...and then the snow.

An active southern storm track continues into next week. This means more opportunities for rain/snow here in Kansas City.

Temperatures started cold this morning - 20s in Kansas City, but the teens in St. Joseph. By this afternoon, full sunshine will dominate as the high temperature climbs into the middle 40s. Warmer temperatures are expected Sunday through Monday. Highs will climb into the 50s.

With the warmth on Monday, comes rain showers with our next system. And there might be a few thunderstorms. Best chances for rain will be late afternoon on Monday through evening. A few drops might be leftover on Tuesday.

Highs will fall into the 30s by Tuesday and stay that way for the rest of the work week. After Monday's rain possibility, next chance for precipitation will be late Thursday into Friday morning. Temperatures will need to be closely monitored for this system. Some of us might see rain - others a wintry mix - others snow. By Friday morning as the colder air moves in, we shift over to snow.

The New Year is finally here and it's time to reflect back on our weather from last year.

I came to KMBC in late April - just in time for our spring severe weather season. In fact, I wanted to start before May since that's the peak of tornado season. I think we only had a handful of tornado warnings. Most of which, were only radar-indicated. I don't want you to think I'm pushing for tornadoes because I'm certainly not. But, they sure are fascinating to study.

We didn't see much activity until June when the heavy rains developed, mainly South of Kansas City I'll never forget the flood damage from Osawatomie. Even though it seemed like we picked up a tremendous amount of rain last summer, we ended 2007, 4.96" below normal. It was the 43rd driest year on record. Our total precipitation for Kansas City last year was 33.02". The highest monthly total occurred in October with 6.46" (Tenth wettest October on record). The lowest monthly total was 0.20" in November. This was when we experienced our longest stretch of the year with no measurable precipitation. That lasted for 25 days from October 27 through November 20.

In a 24-hour period, 3.06" of rain fell from May 6-7. And the total snowfall for the winter season was 10.2" (Normal is 20.1"). The most snow fell in December with 9.4" (Let's not forget early that month when we lived through an ice storm, which was really bad north of Kansas City - especially in St. Joseph).

While other parts of the country were having hotter than normal temperatures, so were we. The average temperature for last year was 55.6 degrees. This was 1.4 degrees above normal. It was the 45th warmest year on record. Too bad our records only date back 119 years. If they were longer, we'd have a better understanding of how much the earth is truly warming.

We hit a high of 102 degrees on August 15 - the highest of the year. The lowest temperature was reached on February 15 and 16...3 degrees below zero! Amazingly, no record highs were made. But, two record lows were achieved. One on April 17 when it was 18 (That broke a record of 24 degrees from 1936...and you don't break records that old every day!). The next record low was a day later. A low of 20 on April 18 (Old record was 24 - from 1914!).

It looks like we could be facing another year where temperatures trend above average...and as far as precipitation goes, we're slightly above average right now, but not by an overwhelming shot. With La Nina in place, it sure will be cold for the next couple of months. Bundle up and be prepared for more snow!

*Temperature and precipitation amounts courtesy of Pleasant Hill, Missouri, National Weather Service*