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Weather Blog: Big Warming Trend

Posted at 9:42 AM, Apr 04, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-04 10:42:39-04

Good Saturday bloggers,

We had a rare April day with freezing rain. It is more common to see snow in April than it is to see freezing rain. The reason is that if it is cold enough for snow at the surface, it is usually accompanied by cold air aloft in April. Freezing rain is caused by a shallow below 32 air mass with above 32 aloft. This is not an easy atmospheric set up in April.

Low clouds remained all night and they act like a blanket, so lows were 29-32 across the region. We had a long duration light freeze that started Friday morning and it will not end until noon today. We would have dropped to the low 20s if the sky cleared. There is still ice on the trees as of early this morning. We are in for quite a warming trend. Let's go through this warmer forecast.

SATURDAY: The low clouds should clear this afternoon taking our high up to around 50. If the clouds persist, we will see highs in the 40s. The wind will be from the northeast at 5-10 mph.

SATURDAY NIGHT: The low clouds that clear from the north this afternoon will start to return from the south tonight. Remember, clouds act like a blanket at night. So, lows will be in the 40s where it is cloudy and 30s where it is clear. There could even be a light freeze in northern Missouri.

SUNDAY: The low clouds will head north during the day with some breaks. A south wind and the fact that it is April means we should at least reach the average high of 62-63. If the clouds are thicker we will stay in the 50s.

MONDAY: The south winds will persist Sunday night and Monday. They will bring higher low level moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. So, lows Monday may not drop below 50-55. Highs Monday will be 65-70. In order to get close to 70 it will require afternoon sun. Either way it will feel much better. Look at the high temperatures where it is sunny out in the western Plains, 75-80.

TUESDAY: OK, here we go. The sun should be out with a southwest breeze and this should allow us to make a run at 80! That will feel great!

WEDNESDAY: A cold front will be moving through, but it looks like that will occur later in the day, so we should still reach 70-75 ahead of the front. The front does not look quite as strong as our last one and also we do not expect much rain with the front.

THURSDAY-FRIDAY: We have not mentioned much about precipitation until now, because there is not much in the forecast. A storm system will be tracking out of the Rockies at the end of next week as the cold air surges south. Right now it looks like the storm will get suppressed well to the south. However, we have to watch it as it could end up being a bigger storm. If it is, we could see a widespread cold rain and yes maybe even snow. Let's see what this looks like tomorrow.

We are excited about our new 41 Action Weather Academy. You can join this new group on Facebook. All you have to do is search 41 Action Weather Academy on Facebook and click join. We will be posting videos about certain weather topics each week. This week we are talking clouds. I will have a video about some interesting clouds we saw last week. You and/or your kids can also post video or pictures and ask any weather question regardless of our weather topic. We will answer it. We look forward to seeing your video.

Have a great weekend and stay healthy.