The haze will likely stick around for the rest of the work week, with a chilly system dropping in late Friday night that will not only cool us off, but should also clear out the valley haze. The system does have a slight chance of giving us an “inside slider” snow shower early Saturday morning, but in all likelihood it will be a dry cold front, and sunny skies will return by Saturday afternoon. High temperatures will slowly climb into the mid-50s by Friday, and will then fallback into the 40s over the weekend.

With these very cold temperatures, it’s good to know how to shut off the water in a frozen emergency, and you should always keep a plumber’s phone number handy just in case.

Even if you take all precautions, stuff does happen, and even the best laid plans can result in that uncomfortable silence when you turn on the taps of the shower on a cold morning. If you do happen to freeze a pipe, don’t try to thaw it with a propane torch. A lot of houses burn down by homeowners with that thought in mind.