"Potentially record-setting cold conditions," the National Weather Service says in a special weather statement for the Los Angeles area — and not just in the mountains. "Widespread hard freeze possible across many wind-sheltered locations late Friday night into early Sunday morning."

What's up? A "very cold upper level low pressure system" — Arctic air — is plunging south from the Pacific Northwest. Crescent City, on the Northern California coast, is 34 degrees right now. Day time highs should fall to the 40s and 50s in the L.A. basin, but the NWS says "the big story is very cold minimum temperatures Friday through Sunday." Be kind of funny if January turns out to be an average month in the historic stats, with last week's heat balanced out by this weekend.

Photo: Soldiers frolic in snow in Korea (AFP/Kim Jae-Hwan via Yahoo)