There's some good news and not-so-good news headed this way on the weather front. You get to decide which is which.

First, it's going to snow. National Weather Service meteorologist Tony Zaleski said Sunday night that a band of snow moving in from the west will hit the west metro area about 6 a.m. Monday and move into the east metro by 7 or 8 a.m.

About an inch will accumulate during the day in the Twin Cities, Zaleski said, but northern Minnesota is expected to get 4 to 6 inches. By evening, snow will change over to freezing drizzle, then back to snow, with another half-inch forecast in the Twin Cities.

Then it's done, pretty much for the week. But by midweek, the "Arctic hammer" will descend.

It won't be the Arctic sledgehammer that struck the third week of December, but the metro area can expect temperatures about 7 to 12 degrees below zero on Thursday morning, with highs of about 2 degrees. Lows Thursday night into Friday will dip into the 6-below range, Zaleski said. That's not nearly as bad as the winter of 2013-14, when the west metro area saw 60 days of below-zero weather.

Temperatures are expected to rebound for the coming weekend. While the Arctic hammer will extend into Saturday, highs that day should rise to 10 degrees, with 20 forecast for Sunday.

"Finally, good skiing weather," Zaleski said.

Pat Pheifer • 612-673-7252