Beyond some showers in the near term, a nice weekend is ahead. Warming temperatures will be the story next week.

Next 24 Hours: Rain showers will overspread the area from sunset Friday through the pre-dawn hours of Saturday. Thunderstorms are unlikely but not impossible. Most locations will collect under a quarter of an inch of rain. As the culprit low pressure system passes, winds will shift from southeast to north but temperatures will stop around 50 degrees to begin the weekend. Clouds could be a little slow to clear on Saturday, but sunshine is expected to show up for the afternoon. Overall, this system does not bring a much cooler air mass, and highs in the mid 60s are only a reduction of about 5 degrees compared to Thursday and Friday.     

Up Next: The second half of the weekend looks quite nice with mainly clear skies, lows in the low 40s and highs in the upper 60s. Highs should be back into the 70s on Monday and Tuesday and could take a run at 80 degrees by Wednesday. From there, readings look to remain about 10 degrees above average for several days. Mid-week is the next chance for an isolated shower, but nothing organized is expected through Friday. CLICK HERE for your full 7-Day Forecast.   

The Explanation:  An upper level trough will race across the Gulf Coast tonight into early Saturday morning. A surface low and associated fronts will move from eastern Texas southeast across Louisiana and Mississippi into the Eastern Gulf of Mexico during that time. Compared to Tuesday’s system, a similar scenario is expected. That is, a quick shot of light to moderate rain is possible, mainly tonight, and thunderstorms are unlikely. Rainfall coverage will be approximately 70 percent and amounts will range from 0.1 – 0.5 inches. Though a weak cold front accompanies the system, it is of Pacific origin so temperatures will only be reduced by about 5 degrees for 36 to 48 hours. Clouds will gradually clear from northwest to southeast on Saturday morning into the afternoon. Surface high pressure will regain control over the weekend with dry and mild weather. As the high shifts east, southeasterly winds will slowly take hold early next week sending highs back into the 70s. Meanwhile, an upper level ridge of high pressure will center over the western Gulf of Mexico Wednesday through Friday. The added atmospheric warming and subsidence created by the ridge will drive highs close to 80 degrees from the middle and end of next week. Onshore flow could try to wring out an isolated shower or two by Wednesday but that is low chance and nothing of note is on the board.

--Josh

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