Clouds Linger, Cooler on Tuesday

By Jay Grymes & Steve Caparotta

WAFB First Alert Quickcast:
- stays dry, but clouds linger through Tuesday into Wednesday
- cooler days, with highs in the 50°s through Friday

We started the day rather mild, with morning temperatures in the mid and upper 50°s and a few passing showers. The big weather story this morning with the widespread dense fog, which persisted into the late morning for some locations. 

The wet and “almost warm” feel for the past couple of days exits the region this evening and overnight -- a cold front has pushed through the WAFB area today and continues its march to the east. The front wasn’t much of a rainmaker, with spotty light showers and patchy sprinkles at best, but you may have noted the “FROPA” (frontal passage in meteorology shorthand) by the day’s wind shifts. Through the morning and early afternoon, the winds veered (clockwise shift) from a muggy southwesterly flow off the Gulf to a “drier” (less humid) flow from the northwest (behind the front).

So we say “Goodbye!” to the rains and to the 60°s, although it looks like the clouds will hang around for another day or more. In fact, we’re calling for a return of isolated showers late Wednesday into early Thursday before we get a complete “clear out.”

Look for Tuesday morning lows in the mid 40°s for the Red Stick with Tuesday afternoon highs in the low 50°s. By Wednesday morning, the drier, continental air will take lows down into the mid 30°s for metro Baton Rouge, with WAFB communities near and north of the LA/MS state line flirting with a light, brief freeze. We’re calling for highs in the low 50°s for both Wednesday and Thursday.

A reinforcing surge of drier air on Thursday should clear skies by the evening and take the Capital City to a light wake-up freeze on Friday. But the cold air doesn’t stay long: it’ll be mid to upper 50°s under sunshine for Friday, then mid 30°s for Saturday morning. And by Saturday afternoon, Baton Rouge should be back in the 60°s.