4/8 – Rob Knight’s “Cool Start” Friday Morning Forecast

An area of low-pressure remains near Lake Michigan, with upper level high-pressure to the NW. Any cloud cover associated with the upper low is well to the north of our area. The upper low over the southern Great Lakes will eventually shift eastward and be located over the Canadian Maritime Provinces by Sunday night. Surface high pressure that is edging into the Great Plains this morning will continue to shift eastward, crossing the local area on Saturday, and be centered over Florida on Sunday.

A strong disturbance moving into the Pacific northwest today will be moving into the northern Plains on Sunday. This trough will be developing a low pressure system over Kansas. The pressure gradient between the Kansas low and the Florida high will cause our winds to return to a southerly component, increasing moisture levels across the area. It’ll probably take a good bit of the day Sunday before we see anything more than a few high clouds in the sky.

For much of the weekend, a cool and dry air mass will be in place. Afternoon relative humidity will be low (below 30 percent) today and Saturday, and moderate some for Sunday. With breezy conditions in place today, that enhances drying and fire danger as noted below. Expect 25 to 30 degree diurnal temperature ranges through Sunday, with readings below normal today and Saturday. While most areas will remain in the 40s for overnight lows tonight, if winds go calm in some of our normally cooler spots, overnight lows in the 30s aren’t out of the question.