Let the Roller Coaster Ride Begin!

Still a chance for a few strong to severe storms for the evening and early night time hours as a rather strong cold front will be pushing across the area. More importantly will be the rainfall potential as some locations could pick up ½" or more before the storms move on eastward and out of the area. After that, gusty northerly winds and much cooler conditions can be expected for the next several days.

Keep in mind that even though it will be much cooler for Tue and Wed, the rather strong and gusty northerly winds will still create an enhanced fire danger situation. Those winds will quickly dry out the fine fuels such as grasses and the strength of the winds will make any fires difficult to control.

Also, we will be nearly 30 degrees cooler for the next several days than we were just yesterday so this will easily be the coolest we have been so far this season. Daytime highs in the low-mid 60s and perhaps even some upper 50s can be expected and night time temperatures will be downright chilly. In fact, some patchy frost will be possible by Wednesday morning and a more widespread frost or even a light freeze still looks likely for Thursday morning. That will be particularly true for the cooler valley areas.

After that, a warming trend still looks to be on tap for the coming weekend with the next significant front not anticipated till early the following week. However, the longer range guidance is now showing a disturbance aloft coming across the state in the NW flow which could wring out a few showers. Although it does not look very impressive at this time, decided to introduce a slight chance of showers for late Saturday and into Sunday just to show that there is a possibility during that time.

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

Dick Faurot