[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVnN1N0_pgg&w=640&h=480]
ONE MORE DAY: Friday will be the last day of warmer than average weather across the state before the cold push arrives Friday night into the weekend. Readings today will be in the 40s and 50s across the state, but clouds will be holding on for much of the day with only a few breaks in far southern Iowa. Dense Fog is likely during the morning hours. If the fog hangs on longer than anticipated, temperatures could be held down.
BACK TO REALITY: Saturday ushers the weekend in and the cold weather back to the state with highs likely being set early in the day with slowly falling temperatures during the daylight hours. By Sunday morning, readings will be in the single digits and teens across the state with highs Sunday only a few degrees warmer than that with plentiful sunshine returning. Some light snow activity in possible in far SE Iowa Saturday night but shouldn’t amount to a whole lot at this time.
STAYING COLD: The pattern becomes stalled over the next few days as the frontal system that will bring the cold air into the state will sit east of the state bringing heavy rain to the Tennessee River Valley and Mid South area through the middle of next week before it finally kicks out Thursday. This leaves us with highs in the teens and 20s and lows in the single digits. Readings will moderate slightly into the following weekend.
FARTHER OUT: No real trends at this time showing up on the models. This latest run does show a massive cold push toward the end of the month that would really bring the temperatures down, possibly well below zero, but we have plenty of time to keep our eyes on that and this may and is likely to change numerous times between now and then.