Enjoy the Sunshine This Weekend!

If you were with me at 9 or 10 last night, I mentioned that clouds would probably be a bit slow to exit this morning…and indeed that was the case. But wasn’t it nice once the sun finally broke through this afternoon?!

The afternoon sunshine translated into temps running 10° - 15° warmer than yesterday when we were socked in with clouds. Highs in the mid to upper 60°s for most WAFB neighborhoods are still about 10° below-normal for the date, but they mark the beginning of a warm-up that will continue into the weekend.

Saturday still gets off to a somewhat cool start in the upper 40°s under mainly clear skies, but afternoon readings will rebound into the mid 70°s under mostly sunny skies. So it looks just about perfect for ‘Zippity Zoo Fest’ at BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo or anything you may want to get done outdoors!

Returning southerly winds this weekend will transport increasing amounts of Gulf moisture into the area. That will translate into the likelihood of some low clouds on Sunday morning, but winds may stay just strong enough to prevent significant ground-level fog. We’ll keep an eye on it. And after perhaps a mostly cloudy start on Sunday, clouds should break and give way to a good deal of sunshine by the afternoon, with highs reaching the upper 70°s.

The extended outlook points toward warm weather through at least the mid portion of next week. Right now, Monday and Tuesday appear to stay mainly dry, but better rain chances return Wednesday and/or Thursday. We’re fairly confident that at least one of those two days will see a good coverage of showers and t-storms, but not real sure of which one will be wettest just yet. One of our longer range models points toward a cool front moving through on Wednesday, while another is a full day later with the front moving through on Thursday. We’ll fine-tune the details as the event gets closer.

Enjoy the beautiful spring weather and have a great weekend!