01/08 – Rob’s “Colder Now, Warm Up Ahead” Wednesday Morning Forecast

Cold temperatures are being felt across South Mississippi this morning. Under mostly sunny skies, temperatures will increase by almost thirty degrees as we reach a high temperature in the mid 60s this afternoon.

Temperatures will start to increase on Thursday and moisture will begin to flow back into the area.

Heading into the weekend, all variables supportive of severe thunderstorms are high. The main threat with this system looks to be damaging winds and tornadoes. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has set a portion of the area in enhanced risk of severe weather.

This is important as storm cells should form ahead of the main line Friday night and the cold front with the line of strong/severe thunderstorms should start moving through the area around daylight Saturday. The front should exit the area just after noon, so it will be a fast paced front. The environment along and ahead of the front is highly sheared lending to the possibility of tornadic cells ahead of the main line of thunderstorms while the line itself will be capable of producing tornadoes, it will also be supportive of damaging winds as well.

The front will stall over the eastern Gulf and quickly race back to the north as a warm front Sunday and stall over or near our area Monday. This could set up the next issue with excessive moisture lending to heavy rainfall. Focus on this system will be much stronger after this first front moves through.

In the far extended portion of this forecast, models are hinting at opening the Arctic for a possible plunge of cold air by the middle of next week.