A much more "interesting" weather pattern is on tap for Acadiana for the remainder of the week with spring-like temperatures Wednesday, followed by a strong cold front and storms Wednesday night, then winter temperatures and perhaps some wintry weather to follow into Thursday night and early Friday.
In the near term, southerly winds and increased cloud cover will conspire to hold our temperatures in the 50s overnight through Wednesday morning.
Wednesday will be breezy and warmer with a few intervals of sun helping to push temperatures into the balmy mid-70s.
Showers and storms will become likely late tomorrow night through the predawn hours Friday with a few isolated severe storms possible per the Storm Prediction Center (SPC).
The SPC has much of Acadiana hatched in for a low-end "marginal" risk of a few isolated severe storms Wednesday night, with the primary threats being damaging winds and perhaps some hail.
Typically, at night, it's pretty difficult to generate severe storms when the colder shelf water temperatures and the atmospheric marine layer act as a wet blanket on severe weather dynamics in the winter here...but we'll see.
A severe weather watch will not be likely for the area Wednesday night, but remember, this does not mean we won't see an isolated severe storm or two.
After the fireworks Wednesday night and perhaps up to an inch of rain, it will back to a windy and cold pattern Thursday with temperatures dropping to and holding in the 40s (wind chills in the 30s) under mostly cloudy skies.
By Thursday night an upper level disturbance will advance out of the west an is expected to generate atmospheric lift and rains primarily in the Gulf of Mexico.
But some of the precipitation (if the atmosphere doesn't dry out too much) will bleed into Southern Louisiana Thursday night into early Friday.
While models vary widely and wildly, there is the possibility of some rain mixed with sleet developing Thursday night.
If surface temperatures go as low as most models are indicating (a few degrees below freezing), there will be the possibility of a more dangerous freezing rain situation developing toward Friday morning.
Equally on the table, we may see a mostly cold rain event with a little sleet and no accumulations (GFS model), or we may see a little more slushy accumulation of of sleet (GRAF model), or per the Euro model, we'll see no precipitation at all, just cold!
Finally the outlier weather model, the NAM is calling for significant accumulation of sleet and freezing rain into Friday morning...but we don't pick the outliers as being the best forecast model.
At this point, atmospheric profiles do not support any snow...so don't get your hopes up on seeing that at all.
It is way too early to tell how this will ultimately play out, but stay with us for the latest model and forecast updates.
What we do know, is that the coldest period of the winter is coming, with freezing temperatures possible several nights in a row through Sunday morning...and there could be an icy start to our Friday, but confidence is quite low on the wintry weather forecast part...stay tuned!
See the KATC 10 Day Forecast for the latest.
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