A brief round of rain on Wednesday night will depart the area by daybreak Thursday, leaving behind a little bit cooler air as well as unfettered sunshine. We start the day in the upper 30s to around 40° before warming to the mid-50s in the afternoon — a few degrees below early January normals (60°). It’ll be a little breezy, with winds out of the north and northwest around 10-15 MPH, which will be a contributor to keeping high temperatures below normal despite all the sunshine.
Wednesday gets off to a freezing start across the metro area as lows dip into the low 30s away from the warmer coastline thanks to calm winds and mostly clear skies setting up for a good night of radiational cooling. The sub-freezing air doesn’t last long, though, as moisture increases ahead of a storm system that will be traversing the Gulf of Mexico during the day Wednesday. It’ll fling some showers our direction, primarily from late afternoon Wednesday into the overnight and very early Thursday morning.
The storm system clears the area by daybreak Thursday, setting up a couple quiet days of weather. Expect highs in the mid-50s on Thursday and Friday, with an upper 30s start on Thursday before heading back to near the freezing mark on Friday morning.
The holidays are over, and we’re back at it in 2024. The good news is that mostly quiet weather, except for a wet Wednesday evening, looks to be the rule for the first work week of 2024. A cold front coming by Monday evening (which was able to squeeze out a few showers as it passed) will set us up for a chilly start to Tuesday, with lows around freezing in the metro and likely below further inland. Despite clear skies, highs will only get to the mid-50s — a few degrees below early January normals (60°).
After a freeze in the morning, we’ll get much of Wednesday in rain-free before showers arrive generally around and after sunset ahead of another storm system. The rain from this will be reasonably short-lived, though, and should depart before daybreak on Thursday. We start Thursday around 40° and warm back into the mid-50s in the afternoon under partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies. Aside from a chillier start on Friday, in which we’ll once again flirt with freezing, expect highs to warm to the mid-50s once again under mostly sunny skies. The next storm system looks to arrive Saturday; it’ll probably be a bit more of an effective rainmaker than Wednesday evening’s storm, though it should depart by Sunday morning.
We’ll depart 2023 and enter 2024 with a minimum of meteorological fanfare as high pressure remains in control through Monday. Temperatures on Saturday will start in the mid-30s, but elevated winds will make it feel closer to the upper 20s. Highs will only top out in the low 50s as gusts reach 25-30 MPH once again during the prime heating of the day. The chill is in spite of nearly full sunshine, though much like Friday, a fair-weather cumulus field should take shape.
Clear skies and diminishing winds will improve radiational cooling conditions overnight Saturday into Sunday, and so we should start the day around the freezing mark away from the coast. Another mostly sunny day lies ahead, and a warming trend will start to kick in as the core of the cold air moves out. Expect temperatures to head close to 59-60° in the afternoon, right in striking distance of December 31 norms. There are no weather concerns for New Year’s festivities on Sunday night except for the need for a jacket — it’ll be getting into the low 40s in many spots as we ring in 2024.
New Year’s Day will start a little warmer, with lows in the upper 30s to around 40° warming to the low 60s in the afternoon. There will be a little more cloud cover ahead of a cold front that’ll swing through overnight Monday into Tuesday with a slight chance of a few showers. The next substantial rain chance appears to be next Thursday with a stronger front moving by, followed by high pressure leading into the first weekend of 2024.
A cold front coming through overnight will send temperatures even cooler for Friday. We start the day in the low 40s, but cold air will be blowing in throughout the day. This will keep temperatures suppressed to about the mid-50s in the afternoon despite mostly sunny skies. It’ll be a breezy day, too; winds will generally run 10-15 MPH with gusts to 25 MPH as daytime heating helps push mixing heights to about 5,000 feet. Cloud cover will generally be sparse with a fairly dry atmosphere in place, with maybe a few fair weather cumulus showing up from time to time.
