Great Parade Weather

December has certainly gotten off to a cool start with temperatures so far running almost 4 degrees below normal. That trend will continue through the day today as we are much below normal to start the day and will end the day below normal as well. But, that trend will be reversing as we head into the coming week.

Today will have light southerly breezes, lots of sunshine and highs only reaching the mid-upper 40s. For the parades this evening, look for fair skies, light southerly breezes on the order of 5-10 mph, and temperatures near the 40 degree mark at 6 pm. Sunday will see increasing cloud cover during the day and increasing southerly winds. That should result in temperatures running a bit milder and milder yet for Monday under cloudy skies and brisk southerly winds.

The southerly winds will eventually bring more moisture this way which together with the mostly cloudy skies will keep our nights much warmer. In fact, the lows for Tuesday morning should be in the 40s and near 50 for Wednesday morning. The clouds will temper the daytime warming, but we expect to be above normal on Tuesday with highs in the 50s and should be well into the 60s on Wednesday.

The southerly winds, warmer temperatures, and increasing cloud cover is all in advance of a rather potent storm system that will be coming our way by mid-week. We could see a few isolated showers by Monday night or into the day Tuesday, but the most likely time for showers and storms will be on Wednesday. There are still some timing issues with the longer range guidance, but right now it appears that late Wednesday or perhaps into the overnight hours will be a window of opportunity for not only rain but some locally very heavy storms, possibly even severe.

Since the timing is somewhat questionable, some lingering showers may extend into the day Thursday followed by much cooler conditions by Friday and into the day Saturday. It is the mid-week period that will be cause for concern though due to the potential for locally very heavy rains and the possibility that some storms may become severe.

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

Dick Faurot