Temperatures will gradually moderate for Acadiana for the rest of this week with the prospects of showers increasing into the weekend, and especially for Christmas Eve.
In the near term, expect another chilly night into Wednesday morning with temperatures bottoming out in the lower 40s for Lafayette, and upper 30s to near 40 elsewhere.
Wednesday will bring more high clouds, with some extended intervals of sun into the afternoon as temperatures warm into the upper 60s.
By Thursday, the sub-tropical jet stream aloft will begin to usher in thicker high clouds, dulling the sun further, as temperatures push closer to 70° for the afternoon.
By Friday, a weak disturbance embedded in the jet stream combined with increasing moisture in the atmosphere should bring some patchy light showers to the area.
Cloudy skies with the chance of showers will continue into Saturday...temperatures Friday and Saturday will top out in the upper 60s.
By Sunday, Christmas eve, the sub-tropical jet stream will combine with a stronger impulse aloft to generate showers and some embedded thunderstorms into the evening hours...no severe storms are expected.
Some rain activity may carry over into Christmas day but there's plenty of model uncertainty.
Rainfall estimates from the Weather Prediction Center yield about 1.5-2" of rain for the area...we could see less, but keep in mind that in El Niño winters, weather systems tend to over-deliver on rain totals...so we'll see.
High temperatures will be in the low-mid 70s Christmas Eve and Christmas Day while overnight lows rise into the clammy low-mid 60s...so the humidity will be high for Santa as well.
There could be another system lurking into late Monday into Tuesday, but thereafter it does appear to get significantly cooler and drier later next week.
The long-range models indicate that we could start the first few days of 2024 sharply colder...with some light freezes possible down the line.
But for now...the Christmas Weekend looks mild and potentially wet, while New Year's Weekend is looking definitively colder.
See the KATC Forecast for the next 10 days for the latest.
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