New model runs continue to be bullish on driving several waves of Arctic cold down into the northern Gulf the next 7-14 days with possibly 3 (or more) opportunities for freezing temps south of Lake P. The first blast hits after dark on Saturday with Sunday's high temp (50-ish) occurring at midnight. It'll be in the 30s by Sunday dawn with strong northerly winds (20-30+) making for brutal wind chills. Highs should stay in the 30s dropping into the 20s (24-28 South Shore) and perhaps high teens on the North Shore for Monday morning. New model runs are now developing a Gulf low with snow not very far from us for later next week. As David pointed out last night, we are still 5-6 days out and things could change, but I keep seeing consistency with the models driving the Canadian cold deep into the South. What could make the chill even colder would be a far southern snow storm laying down a blanket of white across northern/central LA/MS. With winds coming off a nearby snow pack, we easily could see lows colder than mentioned above. That is something I'll be watching for. But we have time to monitor the situation. What I will do before the real cold arrives is winterize my yard & home. # 1) put my outside faucet covers on. 2) drain the water out of my outside hoses. 3) During the day on Saturday, bring my smaller potted plants into my backyard shed & get my 100 watt bulb set up ready so I can keep temps above freezing. 4) Take large plastic garbage bags and tightly wrap my larger flower pots & scrubs making sure the bags will not be ripped off in the strong winds on Sunday. Once we get closer to Sunday night, we'll start thinking about the "pipe rule"...pipes will freeze once temps get to & stay at 28 or below for 4 hours or more. Then we must let an inside faucet or two have a pencil thin drip to keep water flowing preventing your pipes from freezing. We have done these preparations before so, unless the cold gets worse, we should be fine.
In the short term ahead of this weekend's cool down, sunshine should finally return for Tuesday and that will warm highs into the mid 50s after today's chilly 46. Wednesday could top 60 as clouds start to return with Thursday 65-70. A few showers might develop along a weak frontal boundary late Thursday into Friday, but the better rain chances occur ahead of the front midday Saturday. To show you how strong a blast of cold this will be, our local NWS office even mentioned the slight possibility for flurries north of the Lake into Mississippi for early Sunday! Yea it was cold today, but the worst is yet to come. Historically, we are in the coldest weeks of Winter so this should be considered "normal" for this time of the year. You snow freaks, get ready, opportunity may be knocking next week. Stay tuned!
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