Could winter be over after this week?

As premature as speculating that the Saints will make the playoffs? Nothing’s that risky except betting on cryptocurrency. But… if you live in developed part of the Northshore (plus all of the Southshore) and define winter as a killing frost, then there’s reason to believe this might be the case. After Friday morning, I don’t see another cold snap that would be capable of that frost for the next two weeks. That puts us past mid-February. After that, the pattern favors an early spring across Texas and the Desert SW. Since we get our coldest air from the direction of Dallas and Denver, it makes it tough to get really below normal air in here.

In the foreseeable future, we have a cold front moving through by tomorrow morning with one windy, morning right at freezing (Thursday) and another where the winds die down and the frost sets in, at least in the rural areas of the Northshore. After that, we are in for a beautiful 7 days of sunny weather with many days next week in the 70s. Read on for the details….

The Foreca graphic looks almost perfect, and I thank the Finish company for letting me use them. A few light showers are already falling across Northern Pearl River County and they are headed east. However, a more concentrated band near Alexandria and Natchez will sag SE and kick off a better chance of rain towards 11 PM in Tangipahoa and Washington Parishes. The showers should arrive by midnight or 1 AM in all of St. Tammany, Pearl River County, coastal MS, and the Southshore. Showers should leave the entire area from 4-7 AM. A few tenths of inch to a half inch seems like a reasonable amount.

Winds will pick up bringing in the cold, but not as crazy as it was Saturday night. Wednesday highs will struggle to reach 60, then fall to about freezing. I’m not expecting a lot of city-to-country variation Thursday morning because of those winds, maybe 2 degrees. Southshore lows about 34. No need to keep your water running for a night where the temp. dips below freezing by only a degree for a few hours. You need 28 and 4 hours below freezing before you should run your water.

Friday morning will see much more city-to-country differences because of calm winds and clear skies. 35 and frost at Slidell’s airport could mean 39 with little frost at my house in Cross Gates on the east side of Slidell and near 40 South.

During the warm-up next week, there will be some significant afternoon temperature differences between locations within a mile or two of the Lake or Sound and locations 10 miles or more inland. Coastal locations will have a hard time cracking 70 while inland locations could easily exceed 75.

A few measly showers could develop during Wednesday afternoon, but otherwise there will be lots of sunny weather during the week — see the graphic.

Expect the 75 degree high temps. to continue from next Wed. Feb. 11 through Friday Feb. 13. There’s a better chance of showers and thunderstorms that Friday evening with a cold front. Saturday Feb. 14 lows near 50. Highs upper 60s with sunny weather. Sunday Feb. 15 sunny with lows in the 40s highs low 60s. Then, a modest warming trend to start the following week.