With clear skies this evening temperatures will fall fast once the sun goes down dropping into the upper 30s by 9PM and lows Thursday morning dipping into the upper 20s to lower 30s.
Heavy frost is likely for all of Acadiana so sensitive plants will need to be covered and make sure the pets have a place to stay warm too.
Rural areas, and those that live along and north of Highway 190, might also want to cover their pipes to be safe as they could experience below freezing temperatures for 4-6 hours.
Those that live in cities and south of the interstate should be fine as temperatures will only dip below 32 for a couple hours.
After the frigid start it should turn out to be another nice December day with lots of sunshine warming highs into the mid to upper 50s.
Clouds will slide over Acadiana late Thursday into Friday but it will still get quite chilly by Friday morning with lows in the low to mid 30s.
Friday afternoon the clouds thicken holding temperatures on the cool side in the mid to upper 50s again.
As for the weekend there is still some uncertainty in the forecast.
Both the Euro and GFS models show a low pressure system developing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico on Saturday.
The Euro has the low moving more to the north towards the Gulf coast of Alabama and the Florida panhandle by Sunday morning.
With that track it will allow for the possibility for some wrap around scattered showers beginning Saturday afternoon and lingering into Sunday morning before the low finally gets kicked off to the east.
However. the GFS has the low tracking towards Florida peninsula which would keep most of the showers away from Acadiana.
Either way this does not look to be a big concern for Acadiana but we will have to watch it closely in the coming days to make sure it stays that way.
However, for our neighbors to the east, from about New Orleans to Tampa, Florida, they will have the chance to see some heavy rains and gusty winds this weekend from this system so keep that in mind if you plan on traveling that way ahead of the Christmas holiday.
The good news is this system should push off the east coast by Monday and high pressure will build over the southeast setting up a nice forecast for Christmas.
We should have lots of sunshine Monday through Christmas with highs warming from the mid 60s on Monday to the lower 70s by Christmas.
After the holiday clouds will return and maybe the slight chance for a few showers by the following Friday and Saturday.
