Mostly Sunny, Cooler on Tuesday

By Jay Grymes & Steve Caparotta

Yep ... a pretty nice day for MLK Jr. and Inaugural celebrations!  And most of the week looks pretty good too!

You probably won’t notice it this evening, but we’ve got a cool front sagging southward through the state.  By later tonight that front will be over the Gulf waters and continuing a southward push.  Behind the front, we’ll get a moderate drop in our local temperatures, but not a return of a winter-like chill.

Titan9 PrecisionCast depiction of conditions at 1 AM Tuesday showing a cool front moving offshore.

A core of surface high pressure over the Northern Plains will move towards the southeast rather than south, so that the real chill remains to our north and northeast.  But we will see many WAFB neighborhoods dipping into the 30°s for Tuesday’s wake-up.  And while skies will be mostly sunny for Tuesday afternoon, highs will only inch their way into the low 60°s for metro BR.

After another cool start near 40° for the ‘Red Stick’ on Wednesday morning, temps will show a slow-but steady warm-up into Friday.  At the same time, we’re expecting our next frontal passage during the latter half of Friday.  The guidance remains a little on the Friday solution in terms of the rain potential, but for now we’re going with scattered showers (rain chances only about 30% or so) and rain totals generally under one-tenth of an inch.  No need for concerns among those living along area rivers and bayous.

Friday’s front will deliver another shot of cool -- but not cold -- air, as once again, the surge of coldest air behind Friday’s front will stay to our north and northeast.  Look for morning lows over the weekend in the 30°s and 40°s, with highs in the 50°s.  All in all, the weekend looks pretty good, with sunshine expected for both Saturday and Sunday.

For the time being, we’re calling for only slight rain chances next Monday.