Another shot of cold air is set to arrive on Wednesday night, sending temperatures closer to the freezing mark for several nights. We do gradually warm up closer to New Year’s Day. However, the Storm Station is also monitoring a chance of showers for January 1st.

Tonight & Tomorrow: Clouds will remain over the capital area on Tuesday night. Overnight lows will be near average for this time of year, in the mid-40s. There is a small chance to come across a stray shower around daybreak near the coast. This will not be an issue for Baton Rouge, but only for communities closer to St. Mary, St. James, and Assumption Parishes. Even there, seeing rain is far from a guarantee. Wednesday will be another day with filtered sunshine along with highs in the mid-60s. Although high clouds stick around for much of the day, we will see rapid clearing on Wednesday night as our next cold front arrives.

Up Next: The arrival of the cold front on Wednesday night will mark the beginning of a streak of sunny and cool days. We’ll feel the effect of the front as early as Thursday morning when lows dip into the mid-30s. Highs on Thursday will top out in the middle-50s. While afternoon highs steadily climb on Friday and Saturday, those days will feature the coldest morning temperatures of the week. We expect temperatures near freezing on Friday and Saturday morning. This will be another period of time where you’ll want to bring the pets inside and protect tender plants.

As we get closer to New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, we will steadily warm things up. While New Year’s Eve looks largely dry, we’re beginning to see a signal in the data suggesting a chance for a few showers on New Year’s Day. Given that we’re still several days out from the new year, be sure to check back to see if the timing shifts around a bit. This will require close monitoring in the coming days.

-- Meteorologist Malcolm Byron

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