Clouds may Save Us From Saturday Morning Freeze...

What an ugly Friday it's been with an off & on cold rain and zero sunshine.  Highs have briefly touched 40, but if skies clear, most of us will be below freezing on both sides of the Lake.  I've brought all my potted plants into my He-Shed & will have the 100 watt bulbs burning overnight.  The only thing that might keep us above freezing is a lingering cloud cover.

The cold front has pushed well down into the central Gulf, but overrunning showers continue to fall across most of SE LA/MS.  Rain totals of 203"+ have been common with the heaviest being on the North Shore.  The computer predictions for Saturday morning lows have the North Shore in the 20s with most of the South shore just above freezing. These graphics are courtesy of Bruce Katz's 4 pm program.

The key will be IF/how soon the cloud cover leaves us?  There is a wide swath of clouds behind that front that will continue to sag deeper into the Gulf.  What makes me nervous is the large snow cover that reaches into parts of north Louisiana.

I've hatched in where the cloud cover is on satellite pictures with the rest of the white being snow on the ground.

As long as the upper pattern has the trough over the central and eastern states, surge after surge of cold air will invade us from Canada keeping us below normal/average through the next 5 days.  We might see a warm up for late next week.

Just to get back to "normal" (64) would feel Spring-like and that might happen by NEXT Friday.  Until then, light the fire, pour the wine and snuggle with your significant other.  In another 4-6 weeks, we'll be complaining that it's too hot too soon!

Finally, the weekly drought monitor released yesterday had parts of north Louisiana in a moderate drought.  The rains of the past two days should have taken care of that.  Enjoy the sunny weekend, but bundle up if you plan to be outside.  Stay tuned!