Brace yourself for snow, freezing rain, near-record warmth, thunderstorms and artic cold. And that’s just this week, South Jersey.

Like the roller coaster that Hurricane Sandy bullied out into the Atlantic Ocean, we are in for one up-and-down weather ride this week. And it all starts today, Monday, Jan. 28.

According the National Weather Service, those of us living south the Mullica River could face a brief period of snow on Monday, to give us a not-so-fun start to the work week. Generally, less than one inch of snow is expected across South Jersey.

Then, a warm upper-air mass will turn the snow into freezing rain, icing up everything for a few hours until surface temperatures catch up and climb over the freezing mark.

So it just might be a good day to have lunch delivered instead of venturing out to get it.

Then on Tuesday, high temperatures are going to soar into the spring-like 50s.

But the fun doesn’t stop there.

On Wednesday, temperatures could reach the lower 60s and approach record-warmth levels to make it feel just like spring for the second straight day.

But then everything changes when a cold front arrives from the west. Remember, it’s January after all.

Wednesday’s warmth brings the chance for vicious thunderstorms, lighting and thunder with it.

The arctic chill that follows our brief two-day heat wave will knock high temperatures back into the 40s on Thursday.

Then long-range forecasts indicate temperatures will remain near the upper-30s in South Jersey until the Philadelphia Phillies pitchers and catchers report for spring training on Feb. 14 in Clearwater, Fla.

See, it’s time to start thinking about spring.