Nice Today, Freeze Warning for Saturday.

Notice the max/min temperature map for today. Hope you enjoyed the relatively mild weather as those numbers were above normal this afternoon by several degrees and that will be the last time we see anything like that for awhile. Brisk northerly winds this evening and tonight and through the day Friday are ushering in the coldest air of the season and daytime highs on Friday will be nearly 20 degrees below what we experienced today. Temperatures to start the day will also be on the chilly side with morning lows running several degrees below normal. Not only that but northerly winds of 10-15 mph will make it feel even cooler first thing in the morning but as the day wears on those northerly winds will be more like 15-25 mph so it will be rather breezy. Although the day should start off with fair skies, the gusty northerly winds may provide just enough mixing for some low level stratus clouds for a time during the middle part of the day.

As the sun goes down, so will the winds and with clear skies overnight, temperatures will quickly fall. In fact, for the trick or treaters or the Friday night football fans, don't be surprised if temperatures are in the upper 30s by 9 PM.

That will lead to the first freeze of the season with widespread 20s anticipated to start the day on Saturday. Our normal first freeze date is Nov 2 so this is actually pretty close to normal, but we have been so warm for much of the month it will still be quite a change. Also, since a hard freeze may occur for some locations with lows potentially in the mid 20s, extra protection of tender vegetation will certainly be necessary.

Lots of sunshine during the day Saturday along with a SE breeze that afternoon will still struggle to warm things up and daytime highs in the 50s are again expected. Sunday will see increasing cloud cover during the course of the day along with strong and gusty southerly winds, but the clouds should offset southerly flow somewhat. Thus, temperatures below normal again with afternoon highs only near 60.

After that, a slow moving storm system aloft will be approaching from the west along with a weak frontal boundary dropping this way for early next week. This should set the stage for a very wet period starting Monday, particularly later in the day and extending through Tuesday and perhaps not ending for the more SE counties till later Wednesday. Notice the QPF map for that time frame which suggests the potential for more than 2” of rain. Keep in mind, this is an areal average and some locations could easily end up with much more than that.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot