Dry, quiet stretches aren’t too common for South Louisiana in January—so grab a light jacket and enjoy the outdoors this weekend!

THE FORECAST:

Today through Tomorrow: Friday will bring abundant sunshine with just a few passing high clouds. Temperatures will be climbing out of the upper 30s and into the mid 50s. Winds will remain northerly, but lighter than Thursday at about 5mph. The overnight hours will be quiet with lows in the mid 30s beneath a mostly clear sky. 

Up Next: Outdoor plans are in fine shape for the weekend. Some high, thin clouds may blur the sun at times but other than that, lots of sun is ahead. It certainly will be cooler and so a few extra layers will be necessary. High temperatures will be in the upper 50s with morning lows in the upper 30s. Freezing temperatures are not expected. The next warm-up will come by the middle of next week with no rain in the picture until next weekend.     

THE SCIENCE: A fast moving zonal flow will prevail across the Southern Tier of the country through Saturday. At the surface, a strong high pressure in the Mountain West will keep much of the Contiguous 48 quiet and in northerly flow. Locally, that will translate to sunny skies and cooler than average temperatures. Over the weekend, while the high stays in place, an upper level trough will be dipping southeastward from the Great Lakes Region. The strong positive vorticity advection associated with this feature and the thermal gradient may be enough to produce some cirrostratus clouds on Saturday and Sunday but moisture is very limited so low-level or thick clouds are not expected nor are any showers. Low temperatures will dip into the 30s but GEFS shows zero chance of below freezing temperatures on Sunday or Monday Morning. As the trough begins to exit east early next week and high pressure shifts from west to east across the country, eventual return flow will allow temperatures to begin moderating Tuesday and Wednesday. Rain is not anticipated until next weekend.

--Josh