12/29 – Rob’s Final Friday of The Year “Morning” Forecast

With high pressure over the area today, most areas will see considerable sunshine. Unfortunately, it won`t last past today as cloud coverage will return by Saturday morning. The area of high-pressure will move quickly to the east and be over the Atlantic Coast Saturday. Low pressure will develop along the old frontal boundary off the coast, spreading moisture back into the area. While most precipitation will remain off the coast, still good chances of precipitation in the forecast for Saturday night and Sunday. As a strong shortwave trough moves through the Great Lakes Sunday, another surge of cold air, the coldest of the season so far, will arrive in the area by afternoon. It will be a race between the precipitation departing and the cold air arriving, but do not expect any freezing temperatures prior to sunset on Sunday.

The WORD for the first week of the New Year will be…FRIGID. Probably the coldest we have seen in at least 4 years. Cannot absolutely rule out rain possibly mixing with a little snow as it ends in a few areas Sunday evening in extreme SW Mississippi, but no accumulations are expected. Will road surfaces have sufficient time to dry before surface temperatures fall below freezing? For now, it looks like there should be, but we will need to keep monitoring this. Main threat of this on Sunday night/Monday morning will be north of the Interstate 10/12 corridor. Monday won`t see a lot of temperature recovery as clouds will be slow to clear, probably late in the day. High temperatures Monday will have trouble getting past 40 degrees.

The coldest air will be in place for Tuesday through Thursday, with clear skies much of that time. Hard freeze conditions look likely for most of the area, with the freeze line reaching all the way to the coast. A repeat of Tuesday morning low temperatures (and Hard Freeze Warnings) is likely through Thursday morning. Slight moderation on Thursday and a little more on Friday can be expected. However, expect morning lows below freezing for almost all of the area for Tuesday through Friday.