Warmer Through Monday, Then Colder Again.

Have commented several times lately about what a difference a day can make in our weather. How about what a difference a year can make. Last year we had the warmest March on record and this past March was much cooler than normal for a difference of nearly 14 degrees. April of last year was also extremely warm with the month ending at 5 degrees warmer than normal and so far April of this year is running more than 4 degrees cooler than normal for a difference of more than 9 degrees. That is just crazy, but sure does keep things interesting.

Speaking of which, it could get interesting again Monday evening/night in advance of the next cold front that is coming our way. As you can see from the severe weather outlook map on the right, there could be a few severe storms during that time frame. However, current indications suggest this will not be anything like what we experienced last week as moisture return is expected to be rather meager in advance of the front.

For today, a few showers this morning will be moving on eastward as a weak disturbance aloft quickly moves on through. That should leave us with partly cloudy skies for the afternoon hours and temperatures reaching the low-mid 70s. We will also have a brisk SE wind of 10-20 mph. The southerly winds through the overnight hours will also result in a mild start to Monday with morning lows in the upper 40s to lower 50s.

Cloudy to mostly cloudy skies will prevail for Monday limiting the daytime heating somewhat and afternoon highs will be in the low-mid 70s which is pretty close to normal for this time of year. Not for much longer though as the cold front will be pushing across the state during the early morning hours of Tuesday. There are still some timing issues that need to be settled but the bottom line is that cloudy skies and a strong NW wind behind the cold front will quickly drop temperatures into the 40s and by afternoon temperatures should be in the lower 40s. Together with showers off and on for much of the day that will make for another very raw Spring day.

There will also be chances of showers/storms along and ahead of the cold front Monday evening/night and as mentioned, some of those could become severe. Right now, it appears that the primary threat would be wind/hail.

If the skies clear quickly enough and the winds settle down, then Wednesday morning could see another late freeze/frost for the normally colder valley locations. Lots of sunshine for the balance of the day and a light northerly wind should allow temperatures to rebound to near 60. A return to southerly winds and a warming trend is then expected going into the coming weekend. Another system aloft will bring more clouds and chances of showers/storms for the Fri/Sat time frame though.

In the meantime, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot