Mid-May Heat until Wednesday

It’s not mid-summer yet, but an early season hot and humid spell will last through Wednesday when a cold front will arrive with some showers and thunderstorms. There will be a good 6-7 degree variation in high temperatures across SE Louisiana and Coastal MS depending on how close to the Lake or Sound you are, as well as how strong your sea breeze gets. For the details, see the discussion.

After the front, expect a wonderful stretch of sunny, warm but less humid days and pleasant nights from next Thursday through Saturday before we get back in the humidity again. That’s the start of the Memorial Day Weekend, so treasure those days before the stifling summer arrives.

Oh, in case you were wondering about those dark, foreboding skies in the morning, they were just thin stratocumulus clouds that typically don’t produce rain. I explain that in my “Wound Up on Weather” Facebook post, so hop over there and subscribe.

Foreca graphic is a bit low in its afternoon high temperatures for Slidell airport, so that’s why I bumped up my numbers by a few degrees. These temperatures should work well for most of us living 4-10 miles inland from the Lake. If you live closer to the Lake you should take off 3 or 4 degrees for your high.

If you live in Hancock or Harrison County, the water is a bit cooler and the sea breeze a bit stronger, so locations right along the beach could see highs 5-7 degrees cooler and even locations 5-10 miles inland could be 3 or 4 degrees cooler than Slidell’s high temp.

Southshore readings might be a degree or two cooler for the highs than the graphic.

Though the humidity levels are almost at mid-summer values, the temperatures are a degree or two cooler and the wind makes it feel a bit nicer than August. All that to say: You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

Showers and thunderstorms should arrive mid-day or afternoon on Wednesday with only modest rainfall amounts. Despite getting 6” of rain last week, my potted plants are already thirsty, so water the vegetables, annuals, potted plants, and anything new that you started because there will be a lot of heat and sun between now and Wednesday.

Thursday-Saturday should be wonderful: Sunny, less humid, highs low-mid 80s, lows well down into the 60s on the Northshore. Enjoy.

Expect high temperatures and humidity to bounce back up by the end of Memorial Day weekend, say upper 80s. That could happen on Sunday, but certainly by Monday. Sunny weather should hold through the 28th or 28th before our next rain chance.

Peering out into June, with a few day exception somewhere in mid-June where tropical moisture will hit and the rains will come, I think most of the month with be seasonably hot and dry. The monsoon season with its daily popcorn thundershowers probably will hold off until the last few days of the month.

Foreca graphic for Pensacola Beach shows pleasant temperatures with lots of sun, but more wind than I’d like through Saturday. Sunday looks a bit better. Pay attention to those beach flags for rip current warnings. The NWS Mobile web site is always a great resource in trying to forecast how bad the surf will be.

Pensacola, too will see a cold front pass late Wednesday with less humid air arriving and cooler AM temperatures for Memorial Day weekend. North winds there after the frontal passage make for lovely beach times because they serve to knock down any surf arriving from the south.