3/22 – Payton’s Thursday Evening Forecast

Pleasant weather conditions with generally clear to mostly clear/sunny skies, low humidity and mild temperatures can beexpected through Friday as a large dome of surface high pressure slides southeast across the lower Mississippi Valley, southeast states and Gulf of Mexico under northwest flow aloft. Temperatures rose as expected today with highs mostly in the upper 60s to lower 70s. The mid/upper level trough axis will move east off the Atlantic coast tonight and Friday while a ridge moves east across the plains states. Both these features will continue moving slowly east over the weekend with a flattening ridge axis approaching then moving across the lower Mississippi Valley and central Gulf coast region. Rising heights aloft combined with southerly surface winds will bring substantially warmer temperatures trending above the seasonal normals with lows rising to the upper 50s to lower 60s Friday night, and highs are expected to rise into the mid 70s over most areas inland from the cooler coastal locations Friday and near 80 on Saturday. An increase in clouds is expected to bring partly cloudy skies and higher  humidity levels by late Friday night into Saturday, but no rain is expected.