But we do have a brief break to catch our breath before the next round of snow arrives.

In the short term, the concern turns to ice as clearing skies will allow temperatures to drop into the teens to low 20s overnight, freezing solid whatever snow and slush that is still on the roads.

Thus, we expect the Tuesday morning commute to be quite slick once again. Take it slow out there.

Once the sun comes up Tuesday, you might actually get to see it as we're expecting partly sunny skies through the afternoon, with highs clawing their way into the low-mid 30s.

Clouds will increase Tuesday evening in advance of a weak system dropping in from the northwest. This will spread snow showers into the area starting around midnight. These showers will be light -- maybe putting down an inch or so, but temperatures will drop to the upper 20s, so could also mean icy roads once again.

Christmas Eve is a bigger challenge, as a stronger system moves in. This storm is coming out of the north as most others have recently, but is expected to turn inland much farther north -- around southern B.C. That could make for some breezy south winds -- not major but noticeable.

But what will be more noticeable is that precipitation would likely start as snow -- perhaps an additional 1-3" on top of what's already out there in the metro area, and maybe 2-5" over on the Hood Canal, the eastside foothills over 500 feet, and from Everett north, where the cold air is expected to hold on a bit longer.

As the day progresses, we'll gradually change to rain as temperatures drift into the mid 30s.

The mild air won't be able to quite stick, as has been the case over the past two weeks, some cooler air will move in behind this system on Christmas Day, but the air won't be quite as cold as it's been.

We expect snow levels to hover around 500-1,000 feet as some scattered post-storm showers move through. This puts temperatures right on the cusp of freezing where some areas will get rain, while others a mix or snow, especially on the hilltops and anywhere else above 300-500 feet. However, some of these showers might be intense, putting down some localized accumulations. Either way, you should have a White Christmas as the snow from this weekend will still be around. Highs will be in the low-mid 30s.

Friday morning starts calm, but another round of moisture moves in during the afternoon. This, once again, could briefly start as snow depending on how cold it is around here, but the change to rain should be much quicker as we get a decent push of mild air and finally appear to punt this arctic air for good.

The long range pattern keeps us cool and quite soggy, but with the jet stream lifting north a touch and sending storms into southern B.C., that will keep us on the milder side and highs should claw their way into the low 40s, meaning all rain for the lowlands.

That could make for a slushy mess around the area, but at least we are not looking at any kind of really warm or Pineapple Express storm, which would be the ultimate headache and cause zounds of flooding problems. But as I said -- the storms coming in are still cool enough that snow levels stay below pass level and we don't put much pressure on our rivers. We could see some localized ponding where rain and melting snow try to flow into clogged drains.

But the new snow will stay in the mountains, and after this past week, many might now feel that the mountains are where it belongs.