Big lake effect snow is on the way for 2012

A blast of Arctic air is heading our way and will arrive on Sunday to kick off the new year. While it's not a terribly cold arctic air mass, it will certainly be the coldest we've seen this season with daytime highs early next week in the low to mid 20s and wind chills at times in the single digits. But, the big news with the cold air will be the return of real, live lake effect snow. Yes, a significant lake effect snow is likely beginning late Sunday.
Here's the scenario as it looks now...
The cold front ushering in the Arctic air mass will arrive during the day Sunday.  Once that air gets in place lake effect snow will start to develop. This will continue through Sunday night, but then on Monday, the winds are expected to shift more northwesterly and that will really ramp things up.  Right now it looks like 4-8 inches of snow will fall Monday and Monday night.  The lake effect will continue on Tuesday, but begin to back off toward evening.
One more note...this is NOT the beginning of a 20-day stretch of cold air.  By the end of next week we will be back in the lower 40s for daytime highs.
Patience my winter snow friends!