Dare we say it almost feels like summer out there? The humidity has kicked up a notch and the late March sun is starting to get rather intense. Look for more of the same tomorrow with early morning cloudiness and patchy fog giving way to mostly sunny and very warm conditions tomorrow afternoon. Highs will reach the mid-80s. Look for more cirrus to add to the cloud mix on Friday in response to the next slow moving upper and surface low pressure system. This weather-maker will produce 2-3ft of snow in the Northern Rockies to the foothills of the Dakotas while farther south and east we will see several days of severe weather across the plains states down through Texas. Once again by the time this system gets here it will be running out of gas and pulling away to the northeast. So the weekend forecast remains a hedge, although the computer models are going for good rain chances, our recent drier than normal weather pattern may persist into early next week. A fairly good-looking front appears to develop early next week with this system likely to give us another chance of showers and storms, followed by a 10 degree cool down Wednesday and Thursday of next week. Enjoy any front we get over the next few weeks as the long summer lies just a month away.Â
For you hard core weather junkies, here’s an interesting article coming from NASA about last summer’s African dust and its impact on the quieter hurricane season. El Nino and the dust certainly played significant roles last year, but there seems to be some disagreement about which factor was most dominant…go figure! Hopefully the dust sticks around for this year…El Nino won’t.Â