For many of us especially on the coast, this was the most snow we’ve seen in many years or will ever see. Areas of Louisiana south of New Orleans saw over 8 inches of snow! That’s incredible for a Gulf snowstorm and many of us in Hattiesburg remember up to a foot of snow the last time this happened in 2017. Plus this snow was a bit drier than we normally see which made it a more powdery consistency. What a day it was yesterday!
MDOT and the National Weather Service have both advised for people not to be on the roads today. The sunshine will help with melting some of the snow and ice on the roads, but I won’t doubt that we’ll have another night of frozen roads considering the low is going to be in the low 20s. If you’re commuting to work on Thursday, I wouldn’t doubt that some bridges will still be frozen in the morning, so be very cautious driving over them.
Anyways, let’s get into the forecast. The upper levels are beginning to change a bit as a 500mb high pressure zone moves into California and channeling that energy towards the western Rockies. This will shift the upper level winds towards the west (above) and give us some relief from the Arctic air we’ve been experiencing. Over the weekend, the closed high will eventually break down as an Alaskan high sets up. Afterwards, a trough will dig through the atmosphere towards California and settle there for a few days bringing rain to much of the coastal areas. What does this have to do with our forecast? A lot, actually.
This type of setup in California will block a lot of the more polar-type energy we had this week and create a more linear pattern. Not only that, it will limit one of the future cold fronts that arrives at the end of the weekend. Afterwards, it will dig towards Mexico and create another slow cold front that will arrive around Wednesday. So let’s get into it.
Wednesday-Friday
Starting off today, we’ll just barely make it outside of the freezing mark for much of the Pinebelt and surrounding areas. The snow cover will also limit the heat absorption, but the sun will be out for the remainder of the day. Overnight, we’ll drop back into the mid 10s which means we need to drip our faucets and bring our pets in again. I wouldn’t recommend driving at night yet as the roads will freeze over again with the snow melt.
Thursday will warm up a lot more than today with temperatures in the mid 40s and some upper level clouds above. Overall, a decent sunny day with winds out of the northwest around 5mph. Overnight, it’ll be clear with lows in the low 20s, so we’ll freeze over again. Friday will be similar to Thursday with highs in the mid 40s, no clouds, and winds out of the northwest. Overnight, the low will reach the low 20s.
Ladies, and Gentlemen… The Weekend
This is where we’ll start shifting towards the warmer temperatures. A surface high pressure will develop over much of the Southeast with the more linear pattern up above like I mentioned. The good news is that we’ll start seeing some more southeast winds roll in which means that the temperatures will bump up a bit to more seasonal norms. Saturday we’ll see temperatures reach the low 50s around the southern portions of the state and clouds start rolling in during the evening and overnight hours. We’ll see a low around the freezing point.
As we go into Sunday, the clouds will remain during the day and we’ll have some spotty showers starting in the afternoon. Highs will hit the mid to upper 50s and winds will pull out of the east southeast. Overnight, the rain will slowly move in and remain until the morning with lows in the low 40s.
Monday looks to be a fairly rainy day with the system stalling over Mississippi before raining itself out. A high in the Atlantic may dry it out. Afterwards we’ll have a very limited chance of rain on Tuesday with highs in the 60s and clouds remaining over us.
So far Wednesday’s rain looks to be a bit of a mess with scattered rain showers and a few thunderstorms during the day. Going into the night time, the system will organize a bit in north Mississippi before it makes its way into our neck of the woods into the early morning. So far, the most unstable convection looks to develop as it moves closer to the coastline, however severe parameters look fairly low so far.
Regional Day-to-Day Forecast
Today – Sunny, with a high in the low to mid 30s. Calm wind.
Tonight – Increasing clouds, with a low in the mid 10s. Calm wind.
Thursday – Mostly sunny, with a high in the mid 40s. Calm wind becoming north northwest around 5 mph.
Thursday Night – Mostly clear, with a low in the low 20s. Calm wind.
Friday – Sunny, with a high in the mid 40s. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph.
Friday Night – Clear, with a low around 20. Calm wind.
Saturday – Sunny, with a high in the low 50s. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph.
Saturday Night – Partly cloudy, with a low in the low 30s. Calm wind becoming east southeast around 5 mph after midnight.
Sunday – A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high in the mid 50s. East southeast wind around 5 mph.
Sunday Night – Showers likely, mainly after midnight. Cloudy, with a low in the low 40s. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Monday – A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 60.
Monday Night – A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low in the low 40s.
Tuesday – A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high in the low 60s.
