Tonight Forecast: We will be mostly cloudy, warm and muggy with spotty showers across the Baton Rouge area. Some patchy fog is possible too especially along the Coast and Lakes. Low temperatures will only fall to the upper 60s.
Weekend Storms: Get ready for a severe weather event across the Baton Rouge area this weekend!!! A strong trough, area of low pressure and cold front will move out of the Great Plains and into the Deep South on Saturday. It will be very warm and humid with near record high temperatures around 80 ahead of the low and cold front. This will make the atmosphere very unstable as the low gets stronger over Texas. Additionally, there will be strong winds around 25 mph at the surface, and even strong winds around 100 mph all the way up to 40,000 feet. These winds will turn in height (veering) coming out of the south at the surface and coming out of the west at 40,000 feet. That means any thunderstorm that develops and rises will have the chance to rotate. This could cause a few storms to produce tornadoes starting in the afternoon and continuing into the evening hours. Also, any storm could push down the strong winds aloft to the surface and that could cause damage. Be sure to secure any Christmas decorations!!
I would suspect that the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) will issue a tornado watch at some point on Saturday. Right now, SPC has put the Baton Rouge area northward in a Moderate Risk for severe weather, and the rest of Louisiana is in a Slight Risk. The main threats would be damaging winds and tornadoes.
The severe weather threat will continue into the evening and overnight as a squall line of storms moves into and through Baton Rouge. Once the squall line gets here, the threat for tornadoes will go down, but the damaging wind threat goes up thanks to possible straight-line winds. The forecast models are showing that the line will get into town between 10 PM and Midnight. Once the line passes us, the severe weather threat will be over. We will just have some lingering showers overnight into Sunday. Lows will still be pretty mild as they fall to the lower 60s.
The front will likely stall along the coast on Sunday. We will have lingering showers with a few showers during the day, but the bulk of any rain/storms will be in the morning. It will only be a little cooler since the coldest air will lag behind the front. Highs will be in the lower to mid 70s. Sunday Night will become partly cloudy and the cold air will arrive with lows in the lower to mid 40s.
Christmas Week Outlook: An area of high pressure will build over the Southeast U.S. behind the cold front on Monday and Tuesday. Each day will have plenty of sunshine, and it will be MUCH COOLER. Highs will be in the mid to upper 50s and lows in the lower to mid 30s. A light freeze will be possible on Monday Night.
Christmas Day will be sunny and still pretty cool with highs in the upper 50s and lows in the upper 30s.
A weak disturbance will move across the Deep South on Thursday and Friday. This will not have a lot of moisture to work with, but there will be enough to set off spotty showers with mostly cloudy skies. Highs will be in the 60s on Thursday, but in the 50s on Friday with lows in the 40s each night.
**Please keep it tuned to WBRZ, the WBRZ Weather Channel, WBRZ Weather App, and our Facebook & Twitter feeds this weekend for the latest with any rough weather that may head our way!
Have a great weekend! -Dave
Weekend Storms: Get ready for a severe weather event across the Baton Rouge area this weekend!!! A strong trough, area of low pressure and cold front will move out of the Great Plains and into the Deep South on Saturday. It will be very warm and humid with near record high temperatures around 80 ahead of the low and cold front. This will make the atmosphere very unstable as the low gets stronger over Texas. Additionally, there will be strong winds around 25 mph at the surface, and even strong winds around 100 mph all the way up to 40,000 feet. These winds will turn in height (veering) coming out of the south at the surface and coming out of the west at 40,000 feet. That means any thunderstorm that develops and rises will have the chance to rotate. This could cause a few storms to produce tornadoes starting in the afternoon and continuing into the evening hours. Also, any storm could push down the strong winds aloft to the surface and that could cause damage. Be sure to secure any Christmas decorations!!
I would suspect that the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) will issue a tornado watch at some point on Saturday. Right now, SPC has put the Baton Rouge area northward in a Moderate Risk for severe weather, and the rest of Louisiana is in a Slight Risk. The main threats would be damaging winds and tornadoes.
The severe weather threat will continue into the evening and overnight as a squall line of storms moves into and through Baton Rouge. Once the squall line gets here, the threat for tornadoes will go down, but the damaging wind threat goes up thanks to possible straight-line winds. The forecast models are showing that the line will get into town between 10 PM and Midnight. Once the line passes us, the severe weather threat will be over. We will just have some lingering showers overnight into Sunday. Lows will still be pretty mild as they fall to the lower 60s.
The front will likely stall along the coast on Sunday. We will have lingering showers with a few showers during the day, but the bulk of any rain/storms will be in the morning. It will only be a little cooler since the coldest air will lag behind the front. Highs will be in the lower to mid 70s. Sunday Night will become partly cloudy and the cold air will arrive with lows in the lower to mid 40s.
Christmas Week Outlook: An area of high pressure will build over the Southeast U.S. behind the cold front on Monday and Tuesday. Each day will have plenty of sunshine, and it will be MUCH COOLER. Highs will be in the mid to upper 50s and lows in the lower to mid 30s. A light freeze will be possible on Monday Night.
Christmas Day will be sunny and still pretty cool with highs in the upper 50s and lows in the upper 30s.
A weak disturbance will move across the Deep South on Thursday and Friday. This will not have a lot of moisture to work with, but there will be enough to set off spotty showers with mostly cloudy skies. Highs will be in the 60s on Thursday, but in the 50s on Friday with lows in the 40s each night.
**Please keep it tuned to WBRZ, the WBRZ Weather Channel, WBRZ Weather App, and our Facebook & Twitter feeds this weekend for the latest with any rough weather that may head our way!
Have a great weekend! -Dave
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