This morning we bottomed out on the roller coaster ride of temperatures. As forecast we dropped down to the 20s and 30s. Some of the 20s were even close to the shore.
We almost hit the teens in a couple of inland locations. Almost! There was definitely lots of frost over the area. This was all due to the calm winds, clear skies, and seasonably dry air in place. The good news is that we are going to warm up soon. We had lots of sunshine this morning. It looked beautiful at times!
We have a large area of high pressure just to our west.
This will deliver a lot of sunshine to the region today. We’ve had a cold north/northeast wind for a while. Today those winds will be light, and they will start to turn. They will be out of the east and then southeast as we go through the day. This will help to warm up the temperatures. They will rise fast. We’ll be near 50 by midday. Then we’ll be in the upper 50s during the afternoon.
This swift temperature rise will be enhanced by the very dry air in place and the warm March sunshine. It takes less sun to heat up a dry air mass compared to one with lots of humidity. That’s one reason deserts can get very hot in the day and then chilly at night. (Sometimes).
Anyway, tomorrow we’ll start to have some moisture move into the region as the winds pick up out of the south. The surface will still be fairly dry, but moisture will definitely increase overhead. So we’ll have a mix of sun and clouds with a few rain showers. Any rain that falls will be pretty spotty and light. The good news is that the temperatures will start milder, and they will end warmer. We’ll have 40s with a few 30s in the morning. Then we’ll warm to the low 60s in the afternoon.
We’ll keep warming up on Thursday as a warm front lifts to our north. High temps will finally rise to the 70s.
The jetstream will rise north aloft, and high pressure will build in to our south at the surface.
We’ll have partly cloudy skies. There may be some isolated showers as the front moves through, but it is a low chance. Overall, it should be another nice day!
Friday still looks warm, but the forecast for Friday will be a little tricky. There will be a cold front stalling out to our north. For now I have most of our area on the warm side of the front. So I put us up to 80 degrees for highs. However, if the front sags just a little more to the south, then we could be about 10 degrees cooler. We’ll see. I’m optimistic for now. We’ll be in the 70s on Saturday, but there may be a few rain showers. We’ll be in the 60s on Sunday, but it should be nice and dry.
Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler
