Rain Thurs.-Sat.; Warming Next Week

A frosty morn. is in store for almost everyone on the Northshore tonight. So protect your poinsettias and chrysanthemums. Then, a really nice, sunny winter Wednesday with highs reaching about 60.

However, returning warm air won’t quite reach us on Thursday as a warm front gets stuck along the Gulf Coast for several days. This means the warm air will ride up over the cold, surface air and that lift of warm, moist air will give us several rounds of showers and storms. A simple depiction of this is shown in the NWS forecast map for Thursday evening (the red line with semi-circles east of the Low in the Gulf is the warm front). Note that icy precipitation will not be that far from us in Northern Mississippi. Of course, the atmosphere always gets chilly whenever Lane Kiffin leaves.

The whole meteorological mess won’t start to move east until an upper air trough moves through Saturday morning. Even then, Saturday afternoon should be cloudy with a drip or two possible. The good news is an inch or two seems likely out of all this.

A few days of sunny, seasonably cold weather will move in with another Canadian high from Sunday through next Tuesday. Then, a gradual warm up will ensue that will reach into our extended outlook.

The Foreca graphic shows several distinct rainy periods, but there may be more within that three day period. First, let’s discuss the cold weather tonight.

A light freeze is possible tonight with 30-31 degree temperatures in many rural and suburban Northshore areas. More protected areas will hover just above freezing, but with the winds dying off just about everyone will see frost. Southshore will stop near 40.

Showers should break out in the wee, pre-dawn hours of Thursday morning with a good chance of a heavy shower or thunderstorm moving through before noon. Then, another round of showers is possible late in the afternoon or evening.

Friday will see a break in the rain with skies remaining cloudy until more showers break out Friday night. The showers and perhaps thunderstorms will end about dawn, but Saturday will remain cloudy with perhaps a drip or two to add to the misery in the afternoon.

Sunday through Tuesday will be fair and seasonably cold. We’ll have to watch for more frost next Tuesday and Wednesday, but the wind might keep it away.

Expect a seasonably warm period from Thursday Dec. 11 - Monday Dec. 15 with little rain. Highs should be in the upper 60s to low 70s and lows in the upper 40s to the 50s. Next cold snap could arrive Friday Dec. 19 - Saturday Dec. 20. Fingers crossed that the bulk of this heads to the East Coast and not South.