This weekend’s weather is generally looking quiet, with a fair bit of sunshine and temperatures generally a few degrees within normal. Saturday will run on the warm side of normal behind Friday night’s cold front, with lows bottoming out in the mid-40s before warming to near 70° in the afternoon. Another cold front will come through later Saturday accompanied by an uptick in cloud cover for most of us. A shower or two will be possible near the Santee, but other than that, the vast majority of us stay rain-free.
This front brings cooler-than-normal temperatures for Sunday, though not horrendously so: lows bottom out in the upper 30s with a slight north wind taking wind chills to the mid-30s. Sunshine looks to be more in abundance on Sunday than Saturday, and this will help temperatures head to the low-to-mid-60s in the afternoon. Temperatures rebound quickly into the 70s on Monday, with warming continuing through at least midweek as we put the finishing touches on another relatively warm climatological winter.
The first of two cold fronts to affect the area this weekend comes through on Friday, bringing showers to the area and maybe even a thunderstorm or two. It’ll be the warmest start to a day this week, with lows bottoming out only in the low 50s. Temperatures should warm to the upper 60s to around 70°, but the rain being around will make it decidedly less nice.
The first front clears the area in time for Saturday, which should be the warmer of the two weekend days. We start the day in the mid-40s while highs head to the mid-to-upper 60s once again under partly cloudy skies. Clouds will tick up as we head into Saturday afternoon and evening as the second front moves by, and there’s an outside shot at a shower or two as it moves through. This front will bring more of a cool shot of air to the area, with lows on Sunday bottoming out in the upper 30s and highs struggling to reach 60° under mostly sunny skies. The chill is short-lived, though: temperatures on Monday head into the upper 60s, while we’re well into the 70s by Tuesday as we close out February and climatological winter.
One more quiet day of weather lies ahead before a brief round of rain for Friday. Temperatures on Thursday start in the upper 30s — still running a little below normal for this point in February — but warm to the mid-to-upper 60s in the afternoon as southerly flow moderates the airmass a little bit more. We’ll start the day on the clear side, but clouds will gradually increase ahead of a cold front that’ll affect the area on Friday with the first shower chances in a few days.
We have a couple more quiet days of weather ahead before showers associated with a cold front affect the area Friday. Wednesday will be another bright and sunny day with temperatures a few clicks below normal. We start the day in the mid-30s and warm to the low 60s as high pressure moves overhead.
From there, a warming trend develops ahead of the aforementioned Friday front. Thursday will start about 5° warmer as lows bottom out around 40°, while winds coming back out of the south help drive highs to the mid-to-upper 60s in the afternoon. Cloud cover will be increasing as the front draws closer throughout the day Thursday, but rain will hold off until at least Friday morning. Showers and maybe a thunderstorm will be possible during the day, but severe weather isn’t expected. Friday will be a spring-like day with lows in the low 50s yielding to highs around 70° in the afternoon, tempered by shower activity.
The front clears the area late Friday, and we will have a quiet weekend of weather with temperatures generally around late February normals (mid-60s highs) and lots of sunshine.
We have a chilly night ahead as clearing skies and light winds allow for good radiational cooling conditions. This should allow morning lows on Tuesday to reach freezing for the first time since January 22, when we started the day at a frigid 23°. It won’t be quite as cold — freezing temperatures in the metro would be relatively short-lived — but with some light wind in the morning, it’ll feel more like the upper 20s as we get back to regular order after Washington’s Birthday. There will be plenty of sunshine, though, and that’ll help counteract some cooler air continuing to filter into the area, allowing highs to top out in the low 60s once again.
