A Taste of Winter

Temperatures are below freezing this morning and feel even colder with northwest winds between 5 and 10 mph. These winds should subside this afternoon as the pressure gradient relaxes, but it's still going to quite chilly in the wake of yesterday's frontal passage. Despite full sunshine, we'll only manage to hit 46 today. Stronger winds this morning may keep wind chills into the 30s, but the wind chill shouldn't be much of a factor this afternoon as the winds decrease. By tonight, a strong 1036 mb high pressure will be located just to our north. With clear skies, very dry air, and light winds, it will be another excellent radiational cooling setup and we'll experience a hard freeze. I don't think we'll realize our full potential with winds forecast to be 2-5 mph overnight, but I still think we bottom out near 22 tomorrow morning. Nonetheless, it will be a very cold start to the morning. A warming trend is in store for the weekend as high pressure slides east and turns the winds back to the southeast. Highs will climb back into the 50s Saturday and possibly lower 60s Sunday. The weekend will be dry, but a cold front approaches the area by Monday and increases rain chances.