Gorgeous Weather Leaving Soon

Today will be one of the best weather days of the year.  After a very chilly morning, our weather will become picture perfect later on.  Our winds will be light and variable while temperatures spike up to the mid 70's.  At the same time, sunshine will dominate the Arkansas sky.

TOMORROW: Of course Mother Nature has a cruel sense of humor.  Tomorrow appears to be a little less ideal.  A strong area of low pressure will take shape across the Northern Plains.  As it grows stronger tomorrow afternoon, the winds in Arkansas will ramp up between 15-25 mph with gusts approaching 30-35 mph.  Since dry vegetation remains fairly common across the state there is a concern for grass fires.  Hopefully the increasing low level humidity will limit or cap the amount seen in our region.

If it wasn't for the fast winds, Sunday wouldn't be a bad day.  Temperatures will surge to the low to mid 80's while more sunshine returns to the state.


MONDAY: The strong low pressure system that sweeps through the Northern Plains will rush to the Great Lakes region.  Underneath it, there will be a potent cold front barreling through mid-section of the country. The front should be marching through Central Arkansas late Monday morning and be out of here by the late afternoon hours.  It is highly likely that a line of storms will accompany this front.  The biggest concern about Monday revolves around the exact intensity of the thunderstorms.  At this moment, the limited instability and  low level helocity shown by the latest computer models leads me to believe that the tornado threat looks VERY LOW.  Meanwhile, gusty straight-line winds and large hail are still on the table especially for Southeast Arkansas.

 THE REST OF THE WEEK:  When we fall behind the front on Tuesday it will be a rude awaking.  By Tuesday morning it will be downright cold and into the mid upper 30's (YIKES!), so don't put away the winter coats just yet.  In Northern Arkansas there could even be some frost as temperatures flirt with the freezing marker.  Don't worry though, we'll rebound to the 60's before you know it.  We'll stay in the 70's for the rest of the work week with increasing cloud cover by Friday.  A few weak upper level disturbance may set off a couple showers by Friday and early next weekend but it's too soon to tell if it is a guarantee at this point.