Monday, April 1, 2013

Cool and wet pattern this week, then a spring weekend on tap!


Hopefully everyone enjoyed today's perfect spring weather because it won’t return until the weekend! 

Overview

As of Monday afternoon, a dry cold front was pushing south through the metro turning the wind around from the north and allowing cooler air to work into the area. On Tuesday into Wednesday, an upper level low will move out of the Rocky Mountains and into the Plains. At the same time a surface low will also develop over the Gulf and move along the Louisiana coastline pushing moisture northward.  While heaviest rainfall will remain to our south closer to the track of the surface low, enough moisture will be pulled north into the metro to bring us scattered showers for the next several days. The metro will not see any severe weather from this system, but moderate rain is likely with forecast rainfall totals in the metro ranging for 1”-1.5” for the next 5 days.
Rainfall projections through week's end show more than an inch expected across the metro.
Severe weather outlooks from SPC indicate no thunder (green areas) expected in the metro this week.

Details

Showers will move into the metro after noon on Tuesday and continue off and on through the day with moderate rainfall possible in the late afternoon and evening hours. As the first wave of rain pulls away by Wednesday morning, we may see either a break or just scattered activity for a few hours Wednesday until the upper low approaches with a second wave of rainfall Wednesday night. The upper low will move by very close to the metro bringing us the heaviest rainfall of the event from late Wednesday night into the day on Thursday before pulling away to the northeast. Temps will remain in in the mid-50s for highs and around 40 for lows throughout the week with wind chills falling into the 30s during the overnight hours.

Northeast wind (top) and cloud cover through the week will keep temps (bottom, shaded) cooler than average.
By the weekend, a southerly wind and abundant sunshine will push temps into the 70s.

A pleasant weekend

On Friday, high pressure builds into the metro with a return of sunny skies and temps in the mid-60s. Friday night, high pressure moves east of the metro turning our winds around from the south. On Saturday and Sunday, highs will climb into the mid and upper 70s making for a beautiful first weekend of April complete with mostly sunny skies. We may even see some flowers beginning to bloom this weekend! 

Long-range outlook

The second week of April is looking stormy and could bring our first chances of spring severe weather that the Mid-South is known for.  We'll have more on this pattern change as the week draws to a close.  In the meantime, keep the warm clothes and umbrellas handy for a few days and look forward to a gorgeous spring weekend ahead! We'll keep you updated with the latest via our social media channels and mobile apps (links below).  Click here for the complete MWN Forecast.

-Patrick Luckett, MWN Intern

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