Light Freeze for many on Tuesday

Models are coming in 2-4 degrees colder than what they were yesterday for Tuesday morning. That means many rural and suburban Northshore locations could reach 29-32. However, more protected areas (more densely developed areas) may stop closer to 34-35 with frost. With only a few hours below freezing, you won’t need to run the water, but protect Fido and your tender vegetation.

The chill all starts with a significant cold front moving in Saturday evening. Cold air will filter in gradually so Sunday will only feel like football weather in Big10 country with highs near 60, but a wind chill closer to 50 because of 20 mph gusts. Unfortunately, the front will only bring light showers. Even though it feels as moist as May, the moisture is only skin deep, extending to 7,000 feet before becoming bone dry, and it’s forecast to stay that way. Think of it like squeezing one of my normally juicy lemons in early summer - no matter how much you squeeze, all you get is a drop.

Monday will bottom out in the mid 30s without frost because of the wind, with a high only in the mid 50s. A great red-beans-and-rice Monday if I ever saw one! The winds will die down by Tuesday morning which is why temperatures will plummet and frost will form. Temperatures will quickly recover - this will only be a one night frost/freeze event.

The Foreca graphic spreads the rainfall over too much time on Friday and Saturday, but otherwise looks good. Friday’s showers should mainly be scattered and largely confined to Tangipahoa and Washington Parishes plus Northern Pearl River County. I see very few showers on Saturday until the front arrives — about 3 PM in those areas and 5-6 PM from Mandeville-Slidell-Biloxi plus the Southshore. Even then, the light showers will be scattered.

With March approaching, many of the days will be windy. Four of the days shown in the graphic feature winds over 10 mph at Slidell’s airport. Over or near the water, these could easily be 15 mph with gusts to 25. Today’s strong southerly winds will be replaced by cold northerly winds on Sunday and Monday. Then, back to southerly winds for next Wednesday and Thursday. It’s all in God’s plan of sending heat to the Greenlanders and Newfoundlanders while keeping us lowlanders from warming up too quickly.

Next chance of showers and storms will be next Thursday where a weak cold front will arrive. Temperatures shouldn’t drop much after that, but with strong southerly winds ahead of it bringing in moisture, the models are showing a better chance of a half inch of rain. We’ll see….

The four day period following the graphic, Saturday March 1 - Tuesday March 3 should feature highs near 70 or in the 70s and lows in the 50s and be largely rain free.