4/4 – The Chief’s “Clear & Cool” Thursday Morning Forecast
A highly amplified pattern in the mid and upper levels will remain in place through Saturday night across the CONUS. Today into tonight, the forecast area will remain within a region of deep layer northwest flow between a strong trough dominating the eastern seaboard and high pressure over the Plains. This northwest flow regime will continue to usher cooler and drier air into the area, and this will keep skies clear, humidity low, and temperature ranges larger than average. The strong solar insolation expected today will allow highs to climb to near average this afternoon, but low tonight will quickly plunge into the 40s north of I-10 and the lower 50s south of I-10. These values are a good 5 degrees below average for this time of year.
High pressure over the Plains will become centered over the Mississippi Valley tomorrow and remain in place into Saturday. Strong deep layer subsidence will dominate the area, and this will allow for continued clear skies and a gradual modification in temperatures through the period. Highs will climb to near average tomorrow and will be slightly warmer than average by Saturday. Lows will be near average tomorrow night with readings in the upper 40s inland the mid-50s along the coast. By Saturday night, the development of onshore flow will keep lows above average as dew-points begin to rise. Lows should only dip into the upper 50s and lower 60s with this increase in low level moisture.
The long term period is a bit messy to say the least. To start, Sunday we start to see the high pressure pattern start to break down as an upper level low sweep across the Central Plains. At the surface a cold front drapes across the U.S from the Midwest down into the Lower MS region, however this front gets caught up over our far NW areas.
A cold front will remain stalled over our region and we may see some weak showers throughout the day. Rain chances peak in the late morning through the afternoon around 35%. Now getting into cloud cover, currently showing about 70-75% coverage during the eclipse time which is not ideal.
