Nice Week Ahead!

By Jay Grymes & Steve Caparotta

The rains and clouds moved out during the morning, but not before dumping as much as 1” to 2” and more for parts of the viewing area.  But the afternoon turned into a real beauty, although it remained noticeably cooler than the weekend temps. 

Yes, we say goodbye to the 70°s for a few days, but we’re also going to enjoy a sunny work week.

The clear skies and very dry Canadian air mass will mean a chilly start to your Tuesday, with sun-up temps slipping into the upper 30°s for metro Baton Rouge and down to the low to mid 30°s along and north of the LA/MS state line.  But sunshine on Tuesday should take afternoon temps back into the mid to upper 60°s, a little warmer than today.

A second, reinforcing surge of Canadian air on Wednesday will help keep temps on the “cool” side through the middle of the week -- even for early March.  Surface high pressure will settle over the middle and lower Mississippi Valley during the next couple of days, keeping us cool and dry, with hardly a cloud in the sky through Thursday.

As the surface high slowly slides east on Friday and Saturday, we’ll start to see a modest warm-up:  highs in the low 70°s by Friday and into the mid to upper 70°s for the weekend.  Skies should remain mainly sunny for Friday and Saturday, but by Saturday we’ll start to see steady SE to south winds bringing in a little Gulf moisture along with those warmer weekend temps.

A front to our north will slide towards the Bayou State through the weekend, enhancing those SE to south winds.  We expect partly cloudy skies for Sunday as the front gets closer, with a slight chance of rain late on Sunday.  But for the time being, our extended outlook into Sunday says the front will be late enough in the day to leave Sunday afternoon dry.

The front is expected to roll through the WAFB viewing area early Monday, bringing a 20% to 30% rain chance before clearing out later that day.  At this point, not only does Monday’s front show little potential for active weather, but it’s not even shaping up to be much of a rain-maker.

So enjoy the weather through the coming days!