Cold weather? Brrr-ing it on! It's a February freeze, if you please.

Byline: Mark Melady; Mike Elfland

WORCESTER -After the coldest night of the year Sunday, the icy winds subsided last night, taking much of the bluster out of a mini-cold snap, but paving the way for winter's other shoe - the dreaded mix of all manner of precipitation short of cats and dogs.

"It's going to be a really slushy mess," promised Eleanor Vallier-Talbot, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton.

The stormy stew will start as snow this evening, piling up 4 to 6 inches in the Worcester area before turning to sleet and freezing rain in the early morning hours, then extending through the morning rush hour before giving way to rain as temperatures rise into the upper 30s. Accumulations in northern Worcester County should be about 4 to 8 inches, while 3 to 6 inches is expected in the south.

It will all end sometime tomorrow afternoon as it began - as snow, Ms. Vallier-Talbot said.

"It's going to be nasty pretty much all day Wednesday," the meteorologist said. "With the ice over the snow and the rain on top of that, then more snow, the plow crews will really earn their pay."

Thursday will be sunny with temperatures in the mid-30s.

As far as yesterday goes, it wasn't a good day to be out and about.

When the temperature dips as it did yesterday, for instance, the job of parking valet increases in stature among the many lofty positions at UMass Memorial Medical Center - University Campus in Worcester. In cold weather, there is a marked increase in the number of incoming visitors and patients who prefer to drop their car at the front door.

That makes for a hectic - on top of cold - day for valet attendants there.

Yesterday, cars queued at the front entrance as a team of 15 attendants tried to keep up with an estimated 600 drivers who sought to have someone else bring their car into one of the hospital's parking garages. Drivers willing to pay a few extra bucks can sidestep a windblown walk to the hospital's main entrance.

"When it's cold, you know it's going to be very busy," said valet Robert Frazier as he hustled from one car to the next, a knit hat pulled over his ears.

Like restaurant waiters, Mr. Frazier and his colleagues see a silver lining in the hectic pace. There are more tips to be had, and the usual $1 gratuities can swell to $2 or $3.

It's not all bad, either. The attendants slip behind the wheel of cars that are nice and warm.

"It's three minutes of warmth and three minutes of back in the cold," Mr. Frazier said. "Heated seats - the best thing ever invented."

The weekend snow squalls dropped enough snow for the wind to blow around, keeping road crews busy Sunday night chasing after minidrifts.

Ken Burch, the city of Worcester's lead man on snow removal, said the new storm coincides with the arrival of the city's salt replenishment.

"We've got truckload after truckload coming in," he said last night.

The cold that descended on the region Sunday afternoon, sending temperatures plunging to single digits and wind chills to negative 20, had the feel of those February deep freezes that can lodge in the bones through the Ides of March.

But in keeping with the here-today-gone-to-Maui weather patterns that have characterized the winter here so far, the blast of cold came and went before the earmuffs could be unwound from the mukluks.

"This is the way it's gone all season," the meteorologist said. "The temperatures are above normal for a few days, then it's cold for a couple of days, then it's warmer again. Winter doesn't want to lock in to anything."

The monthly averages bear out the upsy-downsy nature of winter in the midst of global climate change. The average temperature for the month of December was 1.4 degrees below normal. In January, which saw the temperature hit 62 degrees one day, the average temperature was 4.3 degrees above normal. So far in February, including the overnight Sunday, temperatures have been 7 degrees above normal.

Snowfall has been above average. Since Dec. 1, 43.9 inches has fallen in Worcester, which is 10.8 inches above the average accumulation by Feb. 11.

As for the rest of the winter, Ms. Vallier-Talbot noted that it's the climactic center that does the long-range forecasting. However a little distaff intuition overcame her meteorological empiricism momentarily.

"I have a funny, freaky feeling that we're going to get a real cold spell before this winter's over," she said.

ART: PHOTOS

CUTLINE: (1) SHREWSBURY - Ski Ward employee Ellison Madison helps a skier onto the lift yesterday with temperatures in the teens and a severe wind chill. (2) MILLBURY - Working in the cold, Sgt. Donald Desorcy directs traffic yesterday at a construction site.

PHOTOG: T&G Staff/MARK C. IDE