Strong Storms and Cooler Weather Ahead

TODAY: You could bust out the sunglasses and saddles if you like.  Temperatures are well into the mid 80's and should stay here for the next couple hours.  Meanwhile we have an annoying southwest wind that has reached 30 mph at times.  Oh well, I guess it is a fair trade to get the warm air in place.

TONIGHT: Thanks to low level moisture and lift, we'll see an increase in cloud cover.  Otherwise the breezy winds will help temperatures stay in the 70's most of the night.

TOMORROW:  As I mentioned in the last blog post, a strong cold front will dive through Arkansas.  This event will lead to a fairly odd forecast.  In the morning we'll have our warmest temperature of the day near 70 degrees.  As the frontal boundary sweeps through late in the morning and the early afternoon hours we'll watch a line of thunderstorms barrel through our region.  The worst threats continue to be damaging straight line winds, hail and a small risk of a brief tornado.  Once we're well behind the front we'll steadily cool off to the 60's and eventually the mid 50's by the late afternoon hours.  Meanwhile we'll see a mostly cloudy sky.

TUESDAY: I'm sure everybody is going to be talking about how cold it will be in the morning.  If everything goes as planned, we will see our thermometers plummet to the upper 30's when you go out to work Tuesday morning.  In the northwest corner of the state they could even see frost.  Of course, temperatures won't stay there for very long.  With a good dose of sunshine we'll climb out of the 30's and jump back to the low to mid 60's by the afternoon.

REST OF THE WEEK:  More clouds will show up on our doorstep but a persistent south-southwest flow we'll force temperatures to make their way back to the 70's and 80's.  If you're wondering about our next big rain maker...well...you might have to wait a while.  Long term model runs reveal hardly any triggering mechanisms out there for thunderstorms.  There maybe a few isolated showers in Northern Arkansas by Friday but I wouldn't hold my breath on that coming true.