Rainy conditions will return to Acadiana overnight into Thursday, and to add insult to injury, it will be rather cold by Acadiana standards, with gusty northerly winds and winter-like wind chills to follow into Friday morning.
Look for periods of rain showers to develop across the Acadiana area after midnight and continue to become steadier through Thursday morning.
Rain shower activity looks to gradually become more scattered in nature for Thursday afternoon as northerly winds increase thanks to the pressure gradient between low pressure traversing the northern Gulf and high pressure building in from the northwest by late in the day.
Rain totals by most of our model guidance generally yields 1/2-1" of rain, but like nearly every wet winter weather system this year, isolated spots up to 1.5" or more will be possible in a few spots...at least no flooding is anticipated.
Model guidance continues to insist on windy conditions developing with wind gusts increasing to the 30-40 mph range later Thursday afternoon into Thursday evening.
And with temperatures dropping into the 40s for Thursday afternoon...it's just going to feel nasty and cold!
Skies will clear Thursday night with temperatures dropping into the mid-upper 30s for Friday morning.
With breezy north winds continuing, wind chills Friday morning are expected to drop into the mid-upper 20s!
At least we'll see full sunshine Friday with temperatures topping out in the upper 40s to lower 50s...which is hard to do given the increasing directness/intensity of the sun this time of year.
There looks to be a pretty good chance of frost developing across the region for Friday night/Saturday morning as temperatures are expected to drop toward the lower 30s.
So the tender vegetation will need tending to, and keep the tomato plants indoors (and could see another frost toward the end of next week too)!
Moving into the weekend, after a frosty start Saturday morning, look for mostly sunny skies to get us back into the upper 50s for the afternoon, but this will be still roughly 10 degrees below normal for the time of year.
It looks good for all Mardi Gras festivities Saturday, and perhaps Sunday too as rain chances have been lowered, to near 20%, with temperatures Sunday afternoon getting back into the 60s.
The longer range forecast for early next week continues to change/evolve with today's guidance giving us a better chance of showers Monday...it remains unclear as to whether the Queens Parade will be impacted.
Mardi Gras is slowly looking better (now with rain chances down to 20% or less) with the Euro Model promising sunny skies while the GFS maintains clouds and some rain chances especially early in the day...no promises yet!
Look for temperatures on our Fat Tuesday to start out in the 40s and rise into the low to mid 60s for the afternoon...it could be warmer if we see more sun.
Thereafter, another brief winter chill may follow with temperatures again threatening the mid-30s toward the end of next week.
See the KATC 10 Day Forecast for the latest.
