Better Rain Chances Ahead

By Jay Grymes & Steve Caparotta

April 8th First Alert Quickcast:

- isolated afternoon showers for Thursday
- showers & t-storms for Friday afternoon and evening
- scattered-to-likely rains for Saturday & Sunday

A very warm afternoon for the viewing area under partly cloudy skies -- in fact, Baton Rouge Metro Airport’s high of 87° today ties the all-time record for this date, a record that has stood since 1907 -- 108 years.

We did see a few specks of rain on regional Doppler radar during the afternoon but what did bubble-up in the afternoon died-out quickly ... and we’ll stay with partly cloudy skies through the evening and into the overnight hours. By Thursday’s sun-up, expect partly-to-mostly cloudy skies with some patchy fog with low temperatures in the upper 60°s to near 70°. We’re expecting a little more wind in the morning, and that should keep us from the widespread dense fog that many encountered during the past couple of mornings.

For Thursday afternoon, we’re calling for a sun/cloud mix with rain chances at around 20% or so and highs again in the mid to upper 80°s for the metro area. Then into Thursday night through early Friday it will be another round of partly-to-mostly cloudy with some patchy wake-up fog.

Unfortunately, the Friday afternoon and evening forecast hasn’t improved. We’re still anticipating the arrival of a cold front during the latter half of the day, bringing showers and t-storms to the area -- complete with a “Slight Risk” for severe storms. That’s NOT what “Live After Five” fans want to hear. 

And there’s not a lot of good news for the weekend either. Friday’s cold front is expected to stall near the coast, then begin a retreat to the north as a warm front on Saturday. With that, we’re staying with “rain likely” for Saturday. What’s more, we’ve got scattered showers and t-storms for Sunday too. The only bright spot in this wet forecast is that neither Saturday nor Sunday shape-up to be all-day rains … but you’ll need to keep an eye on the live radar on your WAFB Weather App and schedule your outside time accordingly.

Into next week, we’ll still carry scattered rains in the forecast for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.