A cold front will move into the area on Friday returning the chance for organized showers and thunderstorms. After clearing the coast by Sunday, some nice changes are in store.

Next 24 Hours: Overnight should remain quiet and muggy with mostly clear skies and low temperatures in the low 70s. An ongoing line of showers and thunderstorms will be weakening on approach to the Baton Rouge area near daybreak. It is possible some lighter rain holds on, but for the most part, the first half of Friday should be dry. Some sunshine will push high temperatures into the upper 80s. Clouds will increase into the afternoon hours as a cold front enters northwest Louisiana. Another line of showers and thunderstorms will race out ahead of the boundary and move through during the afternoon and evening hours. Any thunderstorms could briefly become strong with downpours and gusty wind. Those showers and thunderstorms could linger into the evening but the loss of daytime heat should cause them to wane.  

Up Next: Heading into the Memorial Day Weekend, a cold front will cross the region on Saturday with scattered showers and thunderstorms, especially early in the day and south of I-10/12. Regardless of your location, if you have outdoor plans, be alert to the chance for showers and thunderstorms through Saturday afternoon. That cold front will sneak through the area and enter the northern Gulf of Mexico by Sunday morning. A real late May treat is in store as dew points (humidity) drop substantially setting up a comfortably warm and dry Sunday and Monday. Expect mainly clear skies with highs in the mid 80s and lows in the low 60s. CLICK HERE for your full 7-Day Forecast.

The Tropics: There are currently no areas of interest in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea or Atlantic Ocean. No tropical development is expected over the next five days. Be sure to visit the WBRZ Hurricane Center as we prepare for 183 Days of Hurricane Season.

The Explanation: After midnight into early Friday morning, the forecast gets tricky. An ongoing cluster of thunderstorms will be progressing south and east into Louisiana and Mississippi. Though this feature could reach our area in weakened fashion, it should largely fall apart. However, this decayed line will leave a weak boundary across the area on Saturday to serve as a new trigger for development as temperatures warm up into the afternoon. The upper levels of the atmosphere should have plenty of instability and a pocket of dry air above surface moisture so any thunderstorms could produce downpours and gusty wind. For what it’s worth, the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center has placed much of the area in a 1/5 “marginal risk” for severe weather.  The cold front will be stalled across the area into Saturday morning with another batch of strong thunderstorms fired up along it in eastern Texas. This feature should surge across the southern half of the forecast area on Saturday morning, lending to another chance for downpours and gusty winds. The second half of the day should be drier and quieter, especially north of the highways. Needless to say, there are some timing and placement challenges to the rain forecast, but the bottom line is that if you have outdoor plans, be aware of radar Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon.  With the front in the northern Gulf by Sunday, dew point temperatures will fall off into the upper 50s allowing for a comfortably warm and dry latter third of Memorial Day Weekend. Highs and lows will be a few degrees below average in the low 60s and mid 80s respectively.

--Josh

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