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.
Friday & the weekend will feature more in the way of cloud cover, with a cold front bringing a brief cooldown to the area for Sunday. We’ve got one more day of 70s ahead on Friday, though, despite mostly cloudy skies as moisture increases ahead of the next storm system. Said storm system doesn’t amount to too much here, though, as it’ll primarily keep us overcast with a few stray showers possible on Saturday, but little else as the bulk of the low-level moisture stays to our south. Temperatures on Saturday start on the warm side thanks to the overcast, with lows only bottoming out in the low 50s before warming to the mid-60s in the afternoon. A cold front then sweeps through overnight, leaving us in the low 40s Sunday morning and only warming to about the mid-50s in the afternoon. There will be some peeks of sun through the cloud cover, but clearing in earnest will take place as we get into Monday.
We got close to 70° on Wednesday, but we should reach it on Thursday with another day of mostly sunny skies under the influence of high pressure. We start the day around 40° and warm quickly to the upper 60s by midday, and will likely peak in the low 70s during the early part of the afternoon. Winds will shift to the southwest and will pick up a little in the afternoon, with speeds around 10 MPH becoming common later in the day.
After peaking in the mid-60s on Thursday, temperatures will continue to warm heading into Friday and the weekend despite persistent cloud cover. We start Friday much warmer than the previous several days, with a low temperature in the mid-40s across much of the area. Temperatures will climb to about 70° despite the mostly cloudy skies, several degrees above normal for February 9.
Saturday will be a warmer version of Friday. Cloud cover will persist, with peeks of sun from time to time, but we start the day about 5-7° warmer than we started Friday with lows in the low 50s. Afternoon high temperatures should reach the mid-70s as southerly flow continues to bring warmer air into the area.
Sunday starts even warmer, with lows barely clearing below 60° in the morning, well above normal for this point in the year. Temperatures will warm back to the mid-70s in the afternoon. We stay rain-free for the first part of Sunday, but we should start to see some shower activity work into the area later in the afternoon into the evening as a storm system affects the area; much of this rain falls Monday, though, before temperatures turn back toward normal for Tuesday.
We have another chilly start ahead on Thursday as lows drop to the low-to-mid-30s across much of the metro one more time as high pressure moves overhead. We’ll see mostly sunny skies for a fair bit of Thursday before high pressure begins to slip further offshore and cloud cover starts to increase later in the day. Temperatures will show signs of a subtle warming trend as we top out in the low to mid-60s Thursday afternoon, a few degrees warmer than we have been the past couple days. Overall, it’ll end up being a fairly climatologically typical February day after the cooler-than-normal start.
Friday and the weekend will be generally quiet, though we will be watching winds and clouds increase on Sunday ahead of a storm system that’ll make for a windy and soggy Monday. Friday starts around 40° and warms to the upper 60s under partly cloudy skies that will be turning clearer as the day goes on — a rather springlike day regardless of what the groundhog says. Saturday will run a little cooler as a dry front slides southward across the area, with highs topping out in the low 60s as winds turn more northeasterly. Still, skies will be pretty close to if not completely cloud-free, and it’ll be a comfortable day to get out and about.
We’ll start to see changes Sunday as low pressure moving eastward along the Gulf Coast starts to butt up against high pressure to our northeast. The gradient between these two features will tighten over the area, kicking northeasterly winds up throughout the day Sunday. The rain should hold off for much of the day, but we should start to see some showers affect the area late (probably after sunset). Highs on Sunday top out in the low 60s with the continued and strengthening onshore flow. This will lead into what could be a fairly windy and showery Monday, particularly in the morning as low pressure makes its closest approach. Forecast details are still coming together for Monday, so stay tuned for updates throughout the weekend.
The sun comes back out on Thursday with the upper low long gone, and this leads to a nice warmup for Thursday. After starting the day in the mid-to-upper 30s, we’ll warm to the low-to-mid-60s for the start of February. Overall, no major weather concerns to kick off the month, and that ain’t bad.
More warm and occasionally unsettled weather is on the way for Friday and the weekend. Lows will continue to run where January normal highs should be, and highs will still run well above normal, especially Friday and Saturday. In fact, Friday’s forecast high of 78° gets close to the record high of 80° set in 1950. The warm starts will lend themselves nicely to fog potential in the mornings, and sea fog may be persistent throughout the day as the warmer air overtops the much cooler waters.
Showers remain in the forecast as well as we stay within the warm sector of a stalled out frontal system. Friday could even feature a few thunderstorms, but severe weather is not anticipated. Saturday will once again feature a scattering of showers and maybe a rumble of thunder as well. A stronger front will push into the area on Sunday, pushing through later in the day to clear us out and cool us off. Showers and a few thunderstorms will be possible ahead of this front as well early in the day, but once the front is through — generally thinking early to mid-afternoon — the shower threat will end, cloud cover will decrease, and dewpoints will begin to fall.
Much more seasonable weather returns to the area starting Monday, with generally quiet conditions through at least Thursday.
We hit 77° at the airport on Wednesday, narrowly missing a record high by two degrees (79°, set in 1950 and tied in 1974) and making this the warmest day so far in this young year. We have a chance to top that on Thursday despite showers working their way into the area as we stay within the broad warm sector of a storm system in the mid-South. We should start the day with some patchy fog as lows fall to the low 60s, right around the normal high for this point in the year. Temperatures will then warm to the upper 70s, and there’s a more-than-decent shot that some spots reach 80°. (The record high for January 25 is 82°, set in 1949.) A few showers will be possible across the area during the day, but coverage should be relatively sparse.
