Forecast Discussion for Wednesday, March 23
COOLEST NIGHT IN 9 DAYS…
The cold front that came thru this morning brought with it a wind shift and drier air. Winds have been out of the northwest most of the day and the humidity has dropped. Dew points are in the 20s and 30s. With clear skies, dry air and light winds tonight… it will feel pretty chilly. Especially since we have had such mild mornings recently. In fact with lows tonight around 50 at DFW and other areas dropping into the 40s, it will be the coldest morning in 9 days. So jackets to start the morning but it will be very pleasant Thursday afternoon.
NICE THURSDAY WEATHER…
After a chilly start, temps will warm into the upper 70s Thursday afternoon. Winds will be shifting to the southeast at about 10 to 20 mph.
WIND MACHINE TURNS ON AGAIN…
After a little break from the wind, it starts to get windy again on Friday into Saturday. South winds on Friday will gusts to 30 mph out of the south bringing a few more clouds on Friday. Temps on Friday will make their way into the mid 80s especially if we see lots of sunshine. There could be a stray shower or storm on Friday but rain coverage would be less than 10%.
HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR SO FAR ON SATURDAY…
Everything is pointing to a hot start to the weekend. After some debate in the weather center as to whether or not to pull the trigger and forecast a high of 90 at DFW, we decided on 88 as the high at DFW for Saturday. This will be the warmest day of the year so far. The warmest reading at DFW this year has been 85 on March 18th. There will certainly be many areas south and west of the metroplex that make it to 90 and Fort Worth certainly has a decent shot of reaching 90 on Saturday. But the one limiting factor is that a cold front will be arriving Saturday evening. The timing of that front could limit the heating just enough to keep us from reaching 90 in the metroplex. Regardless, it will be nice and warm on Saturday and dry.
COOLER SUNDAY, MAYBE SOME MUCH NEEDED RAIN…
That front that gets here Saturday evening will bring cooler weather for Sunday. Highs will only be in the 70s on Sunday. There could be an isolated shower or storm along that front Saturday night, but chances of rain will be less than 20% Saturday night into Sunday morning. Better rain chances come Sunday evening into Monday morning as a strong upper level system looks like it will be tracking into Texas. So far this month all these upper level disturbances have missed us to the north. This one looks like it might actually track far enough south to bring us some rain. And do we need rain. So far this month we have had only .01" of rain. This makes this March the driest on record so far. The driest March was in 1925 when we had only .02" of rain.
Best rain chances look to be Sunday evening into Monday morning especially for those areas east of the I-35 corridor. Rain should move east of the area during the day on Monday and then some cooler weather for the middle of next week. Highs will be in the low 70s and upper 60s Mon, Tue and Wed of next week.
