It’s been a muggy past 24 hours with a warm front pulling some Gulf moisture through much of Mississippi and Louisiana last night and this morning. We had a few showers and thunderstorms overnight, but nothing severe to speak of. The rain should be out of here by the afternoon with a few stray showers leaving with the incoming cold front. Afterwards, prepare for much cooler temperatures behind it.
As the sun rises on Sunday, temperatures will reach the mid 30s and eventually reach the low 40s during the day. The clouds will be clearing out as the day goes on, but expect some chilly northwest winds to cut through. Overnight into Monday, it will be much colder with temperatures falling into the low to mid 20s. During the day, it’ll still be quite chilly with temperatures struggling to reach 40 degrees and northern winds cutting through with gusts around 20mph.
I’ll just make a PSA with the 3 P’s. Pets, Plants, and Pipes. When it’s cold, bring them inside and cover them. That’s what you need to do for the next several days. Turn on your faucets so pipes don’t burst.
So now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The snow forecast! This one has been a doozy to say the least as the main two models, the GFS and Euro models have been in agreement about the snowfall while the ICON model cuts it pretty short at Louisiana. Personally, I think there’s a decent chance that winter precipitation is going to happen. Most of the worst of it will likely happen between the Louisiana/Mississippi border north of Baton Rouge. However, many of us around the Highway 98 to Highway 84 corridor will likely see the effects of the snow as well.
The conservative number that’s going around is around 2-4″ of accumulation and I think I’ll stick to that for now. Considering the air temperature is already below freezing before the arrival of the low and a lack of melting temperatures in the atmosphere, snow is the likely precipitation. The main concern we’ll have to be aware of is the ground temperature. If the ground is able to reach the freezing point before the snow arrives, we’ll see more accumulation. One other big concern for those around the MS/AL/FL coast is freezing rain. Since temperatures won’t freeze until much later when the winter weather moves in, there is also a slight break in the freezing point in the mid-levels which may lead to ice on the roads. Be aware if you live in these areas as the roads and bridges will likely ice over…