It has been absolutely arctic around here for the last couple of weeks, but thankfully, what goes down also comes back up as a more tranquil pattern settles in. Much milder too!
“Does that temperature start with a 4?”: Friday and Friday Night
We’ve steadily been climbing out of our positively gelid weather pattern as we’ve gone through this week and finally, it appears we’re going to see quite the improvement as we close out this work week.
A weak system diving in from the northwest will attempt to bring us another round of precipitation late in the day and into the later hours. However, because it’s so weak, it doesn’t appear as if it will bring significant moisture up from the south to bring us any precip. However, it will bring some milder air up from the south during the daytime hours, especially out ahead of it. That southerly wind is going to help bring highs up into the middle and perhaps upper 40s.
While it doesn’t look like spring is officially springing quite yet, the middle and upper 40s will feel positively tropical compared to where we’ve been!
Clouds will be on the increase Friday night as our system scoots by. Despite the clouds preventing the warmth of the day from escaping out into space, northwesterly winds should help drop temperatures back below freezing overnight, though only into the upper 20s to near 30º or so. I can’t rule out a sprinkle or light shower or flurry, but this doesn’t look to be a big deal.
Chilling Back Out…Reasonably: Saturday and Sunday
While the pattern is favoring warmer than normal temperatures as we head toward next week, Friday’s leap to near 50º looks to be but a preview as that weak system will drag at least a little cooler air back into the region as the weekend is upon us.
Cooler air will push back into the region during the daytime hours, though it’s looking like that’s going to be a technicality, because while we’re chilly on Saturday, we’re back not far from where we should be on Sunday.
Sunshine looks to make a return as high pressure builds back into the region. That will only allow highs in the middle 30s during the day. Pretty chilly compared to where we were just 24 hours before!
Much more typically wintry overnight lows are expected as a few clouds drift through the region on Saturday night, with lows only in the lower 20s. Again, cold, but downright tropical compared to where we’ve been!
It’s more of the same on Sunday with high pressure in place, but adding in a southerly wind component. That should allow highs to get up into the middle and upper 40s. Basically the baseline February day.
We continue the average February trend as the sun sets into the evening hours. Dry air and mostly clear skies means we’ll see temperatures fall back into the upper 20s to near 30º overnight.
Let’s Get Mild: Into Next Week
A big time pattern change is on the way into next week and beyond as we finally climb completely out of our Arctic air jail and return to where we should be heading into mid-February.
We’ll allow the polar vortex to relax and head back up into, well, the north pole. As it does, we’ll introduce a more west-to-east zonal flow back into the middle of the country. This will allow our temperatures to hang around near average.
Take Monday, for instance. We’ll return to at least a partly sunny sky to start the work week. That will allow highs to flirt with 60º. 60º!
Overnight lows are not far from where we should be for highs this time of year, back into the lower to middle 40s. And when we’re that warm at night, we’ll be even warmer during the day. Mid 60s are not out of the question by Tuesday as we watch a weak system bring us an opportunity for some rain showers moving in.
That system will set the stage for another, perhaps stronger system that could head our way as we work into the back half of next week and into Valentine’s weekend. That one’s still a little up on the air, but temperatures should be above average, so at this point it feels like the chances are better for rain and thunderstorms than any kind of wintry shenanigans…but we’ll be watching it!
That’s it for me for now! You can always keep up with the latest on all of our social media platforms. Have a tremendous day and a great weekend!