The Lion of March is Tamed… For The Weekend

After March rolled into the Mid-South like a lion, this weekend will be more like a lamb. With sunny skies and seasonal temperatures on tap, it’ll be a great few days to get out before the chance of rain rolls back into our picture to start the work week.

A Wonderful Weekend

After a cold front plowed through the eastern half of the U.S. in the first half of our week, high pressure has moved in to take things into a more picturesque direction. Sunny skies and comfortable temperatures have control over the area for at least the next 36 hours. There will be some passing high and “fair weather” clouds, especially on Saturday into Saturday night, but no precipitation is expected from them.

High pressure is large and in charge across the eastern half of the U.S. today. No significant precipitation is in sight on this surface analysis from the National Weather Service (NWS)

Temperatures have dropped from the 70s that we saw ahead of the stormy days earlier this week, leaving in its place 50s and 60s. With these much more traditional temperatures for this time of year has come a shift in the winds to the north to northeast. This could lead to temperatures near freezing overnight on Friday night in some rural spots. However, we’re anticipating a shift once more to the south on Saturday, which should help bring warm air up off the Gulf of Mexico into the Southeast U.S. Highs will hit the mid 60s on Saturday and Sunday and could hit 70° by Monday and Tuesday.

Showery with storms to start the week

This warm and moist flow off the Gulf will help enhance the chance for precipitation to start your work week. With an approaching system out of the Rocky Mountains, rain and thunderstorms over Texas will shift east into the Mid-South late Monday and into Tuesday. The greatest chance of rain will come on Tuesday, with Monday seeing increasing clouds and a scattered chance for showers.

The hazardous weather outlook from the NWS Office in Memphis shows no significant chance of severe weather within the next week. (NWS)

Unlike the thunderstorms that tracked through the Memphis metro to start off March, we are not expecting these storms to be severe at this time. The weather will still be worth watching on Monday and Tuesday, so make sure you have your rain gear ready.

Once this next system pushes through to start the work week, skies will start clearing up with some moderately warm temps too. Partly to mostly sunny skies are expected for Wednesday and Thursday with highs in the mid 60s.

Heading into the Ides of March

Heading into the middle of March, we’re anticipating above average highs and above average precipitation. Beware of the ides of March? Perhaps mother nature will get all the rain out of the way early, allowing March go out like a lamb!

Be sure to stay tuned to MemphisWeather.net for the latest on all your weather around the Memphis metro. Check out our other blog posts from Severe Weather Awareness Week and watch our preparedness chat on YouTube to get great tips to be prepared for the coming storm season.

As always, our MWN human-generated forecast is available on our website as well as through Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Give us a follow, and get all your weather updates at the palm of your hands. Links to our social feeds are below.

Alex Herbst, Meteorologist
MWN Social Media Intern
----
Follow MWN on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+
Visit MemphisWeather.net on the web or m.memphisweather.net on your mobile phone.
Download our iPhone or Android apps, featuring StormWatch+ severe weather alerts!

MWN is a NOAA Weather Ready Nation Ambassador

Meteorologist Erik Proseus is an NWA Digital Seal Holder