Mild Saturday, Much Colder Sunday.

The cloudy skies and light mist that occurred from time to time today may linger into the morning hours of Saturday, but we should see at least a few breaks in the clouds by afternoon. Also, our winds will be very light for tonight and much of the day Saturday with the wind direction gradually veering around from NE in the morning to SE by days end. This all adds up to what will be one more very mild day with morning lows in the 40s to near 50 and daytime highs reaching the lower 60s for most locations.

Look for temperatures to hold in the 50s for Saturday evening and much of the overnight hours before a strong cold front arrives shortly after sunrise on Sunday morning. As the front moves through, gusty northerly winds will immediately follow with wind gusts likely up to 30 mph or more. Temperatures will initially level out for the rest of the morning, but will be falling by afternoon and should be in the upper 30s to near 40 by sunset. The winds will make it feel much colder with wind chill values in the 20s and 30s by Sunday evening and possibly into the teens on Monday.

There will also be a chance of some light rain or a brief shower during the day Sunday and possibly even a brief wintry mix for the more southern counties that night. However, no accumulation is anticipated nor are any travel issues expected. As the QPF map on the right shows, most of the moisture will once again be well east of us.

This will be followed by the coldest air of the season for early next week with temperatures starting off in the 20s Monday morning and struggling to get much above freezing during the day due to continued gusty northerly winds. Monday night should see lows dropping into the teens followed by a gradual warming trend starting Tuesday afternoon as our winds return to a southerly direction. This warming trend will continue for the rest of the coming week with temperatures back above normal by the latter part of the week. But, it will still be much cooler than what we have been accustomed to this past week.

The cold blast arriving on Sunday is a result of a change in the wind pattern aloft. As we go through the next couple of weeks, there are indications that the upper level flow will continue to amplify resulting in a more unsettled pattern. That means we will start seeing stronger, more frequent cold fronts arriving and perhaps even an increasing chance of some useful precipitation as this pattern develops. Don't want to get your hopes up too high, but at least there is a glimmer of hope that the pattern is changing to one that will be a wetter one.

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

Dick Faurot