KATC StormTeam 3 Weather BLOG

Temperatures overnight will dip to near freezing. Get everything ready to bundle up for the morning bus ride. It will be cold again tomorrow. Temperatures for the most part of the day will hover in the 30s. Late in the afternoon a warm front will bring warmer weather. Tuesday will be much warmer with highs in the upper 60s. Clouds and a slight chance of rain stay in the forecast through the week. We will finally get a clear, sunny day on Saturday. Until then a frontal boundary will keep our weather dreary. Although we will see a warm up this week, we have not seen the end of Arctic air. Expect another cool off by Lundi Gras.
Enjoy your week!

Kari Hall
9:15pm

Bundle up if you are heading out to the festivities! Temperatures will be in the 40s but wind chills will be in the 30s. Also light rain showers may make it worse. Rain showers stay in the forecast through next week as a stalled frontal boundary stays offshore. With the shallow layer of cold air at the surface, freezing rain and ice will be a problem for Shreveport and our friends to the north. Here temperatures will not be cold enough for frozen precipitation.
Temperatures will warm quickly after tomorrow with highs in the 70s by Tuesday. What a see-saw! Parades for next weekend look great with highs in the 60s and sunny skies. That could change but we will stay optimistic.

Kari Hall

Cloudy, breezy, colder with occasional periods of light rain and/or drizzle…that will summarize this weekend.

For tonight’s parade in New Iberia, we’ll see temperatures dropping into the 50s with breezy northerly winds. But rain chances will stay slight at about 20%. Tomorrow will be breezy and progressively colder with a good chance of occasional periods of light rain/drizzle. Little change in this weather scenario is expected through Sunday. Temperatures will drop from the upper 40s Saturday morning into the upper 30s to lower 40s Saturday night. Highs on Sunday will also be in the 40s.

Good news for next week is that we are at least calling for milder conditions. Unfortunately we can’t shake the rain chances until after Thursday. Friday and Saturday of next weekend will be fair and cool, with moderating temperatures and clouds returning by Mardi Gras. It could warm up nicely by the end of our big Mardi Gras break.

Enjoy the weekend and stay safe, warm and dry!

Rob Perillo

Ok…no Mardi Gras forecast yet. We’re just trying to get tomorrow right! Per the previous blogs, we will likely be in a very changeable pattern from here on out past Mardi Gras. We do know there will be plenty of clouds, it should be fair chilly this weekend, and there will likely be patchy rain/drizzle most of the day Saturday.

Thereafter, we will be at the mercy of a wavering frontal boundary. It should move back northward late Sunday into Monday, move back to the south Monday night early Tuesday, then move back to the north Tuesday night, and then back to the south Wednesday. You get the idea! Give or take 12 hours will make a big difference on any given day.

Keep that umbrella handy. Although I’m not expecting much in the way of anything more than moderate rain, we could see light showers/patchy drizzle just about any day through next week. Hopefully we’ll catch a break by Friday and early Mardi Gras weekend. It does look like the real action will be north of our area with a significant winter storm in northern Texas, parts of Oklahoma into Arkansas.

I have gotten a few questions about last week’s earthquake in the Gulf. I’m not an expert on quakes, but this magnitude quake appears to by a fairly rare occurrence. You can get information regarding the quake at the USGS site. Someone also emailed me a great link for background sub-terrainean information. This paper is for the hard- core earth scientist and geologists, but I found it very interesting. I can’t vouch for the theory, but it was great reading.

Rob Perillo

Our weather pattern is heading for a prolonged unsettled period as we get sandwiched between spring conditions to our south and wintry weather to our north. A frontal boundary will sag southward toward the region Friday and then will become nearly stationary across the area from Saturday through Tuesday. Minor perturbations in the sub-tropical jet stream will produce plenty of clouds and scattered showers through mid-next week. Timing the systems over the next few days will be a hard call beyond 24-48 hours so keep that umbrella handy.

In addition to trying to nail down the rainy periods, temperatures will be a challenging forecast. The models are split on whether the front crosses the entire area or not this weekend. Therefore, a good argument for upper 50s and/or lower 70s can be made. Right now I’m siding on a cooler forecast given the shallowness, density and coolness of the air to the north. If the aforementioned front is parked to the south of us, expect higher rain chances…if it stays mostly to the north, the rains will also be farther north.

If your are traveling this weekend, there will likely be wintry precipitation from Dallas through central Arkansas and points to the north and east

Rob Perillo

Strap on the seatbelts as the weather and temperature roller coaster is about to get going. The forecast includes milder temperatures tonight and much warmer temperatures tomorrow and Thursday with highs well into the 70s. Skies will be partly to at times mostly cloudy. A cool front will reach Acadiana for Friday but the frontal boundary will get hung-up along the coast. This will translate to plenty of clouds and scattered showers (in the 30% range). Before the front gets here we may have to battle with some sea fog Thursday evening. Fog may also be a possibility Sunday night as the front moves back northward.

Temperatures will cool Friday and this weekend, only to warm back up on Monday. But another moderately strong cold front will produce storms late Monday and will cool us back down for Tuesday. This front will also be a “dirty” front, with over-running precipitation and chilly conditions possible for mid-next week.

Rob Perillo

Milder temperatures are on the way as our cool ridge of high pressure slides to the east. This will induce southerly winds and milder temperatures as we go deeper into the week. There should be a fair bit of cloudiness mixed in from time to time, but it should stay mostly dry…until the weekend.

A weak frontal boundary will approach Friday setting off a few showers into the weekend. At this time we’ll go with scattered showers, and cooler temperatures for Saturday and Sunday. The front should retreat back to the north early next week with above normal temperatures returning.

FYI. This weekend we “officially” saw 31 degrees in Lafayette Saturday morning…which just ties us for the coldest morning this winter, and it brings the tally to 4 freezes this entire winter! There is fairly good support for at or above normal temperatures through the next two weeks, so we may be done with the hard freeze threat. But there is usually one or two frosty mornings bewteen now and the 2nd week of March. However, it’s beginning to look like we might not see that either. Time will tell.

Incidentally, the record low for Lafayette on this date was 6 in 1899! That is the coldest temperture ever recorded in Lafayette.

Rob Perillo

A freeze warning has been issued again for St.Landry, Allen, and Evangeline parishes tonight. Take care of the three P’s (pets, plants, and pipes) if you are under this warning. Monday will be another cool one with sunny skies. Valentine’s Day will be love-ly with highs in the mid 60s and sunny skies. Rain showers stay away until Friday.
Enjoy your week!
Kari Hall
5:55 pm

The coldest temperatures of the season are expected overnight. A freeze warning is in effect for St. Landry, Evangeline, and Allen parishes. Bring in your plants and pets and take care of your pipes. A few tips: Run your faucets with just a trickle of water overnight. For your plants, if you don’t want to bring them in, spray the entire plant with water so that the water freezes on the plant. The layer of ice will act as an insulator and keep them from dying. If you don’t want to bring your pet inside, make sure they have shelter with blankets or hay inside. Also make sure they have unfrozen water all night long.

These tips are useful for everyone under the freeze warning. The rest of Acadiana will have a light freeze meaning temperatures will be below freezing for less than five hours. You should still take the necessary precautions. Tomorrow night will be not as cool but we will once again see temperatures under 32 for the low. Temperatures will warm quickly after Monday as spring-like temperatures return for Tuesday.

Enjoy your short winter!

Kari Hall
10:45pm

There are no major changes to the previous blogs…other than a little fine tuning. For this evening we’ll see rain and some strong thunderstorms ending west to east around 10pm to 12am. Gusty southerly winds will shift northward and will gust to 35mph Saturday.

The freeze tomorrow night will like keep our temperatures below freezing for 7-8 hours. This isn’t a real pipe-busting cold, but exposed pipes, particularly in manufactured homes, may need some attention. The pets and plants should certainly be in for tomorrow night.

It will stay on the cold side through Monday night, with moderating temperatures and a few showers later next week. For those who hate cold weather take solice in that we’ll be in the 70s by Thursday!

Keep it tuned to KATC early this evening for possible storm updates…

Rob Perillo