Warming Up Next Few Days, Rain Likely Saturday.

The brisk NW winds of today will be calming down for the overnight hours, then light and variable in direction for much of the day Wednesday before returning to a southerly direction late in the day. Gusty southerly winds will be the general rule for Thursday and Friday before the next cool front arrives during the day Saturday. I mention the winds because they will govern how our weather changes as we head into the weekend.

For example, the brisk NW winds of today are just serving to keep the air relatively dry so that only a few lonely clouds may develop this afternoon. Usually a brisk NW wind will also bring cooler air with it, but in this case it is just maintaining the status quo as afternoon temperatures will still make it into the lower 80s. Also, as the winds calm down tonight the clear skies and the drier air will result in another cooler than normal start to our day with morning lows in the 50s.

The high pressure ridge will be moving over us on Wednesday with light northerly winds in the morning and light and variable winds into the afternoon before returning to a light southerly direction by the end of the day. The drier air in place will also give us full sun so that after the cool morning start, we should see daytime highs back above normal with low-mid 80s expected.

The gusty southerly winds that will return on Thursday/Friday will produce much warmer than normal temperatures with morning lows back into the 60s and daytime highs that will be flirting with the 90 degree mark. However, moisture will be slow to return to we should still have lots of sunshine both days with only a few clouds starting to show up on Friday.

The next front will be arriving during the day Saturday and this promises to produce a widespread line of showers/storms starting out west first thing in the morning and moving eastward during the course of the day. There may be some lingering showers into the morning hours of Sunday as well. The 7 day QPF map on the right suggests the potential for an inch or more of rain over much of the state which is badly needed. Cannot rule out the possibility of a few showers/storms also becoming severe.

That will be followed by a brief return to near or slightly below normal temperatures before things warm back up later in the week. So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot