DETROIT – Thursday was yet another fabulous day in this last week of February, and today is shaping up to be much the same.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s article, it’s possible that some fog may develop just before dawn -- best chance is near Lakes Erie and St. Clair -- but whatever forms (if anything) will quickly dissipate by 10 a.m.
We’ll then enjoy yet another mostly sunny day with highs again reaching the low 40s (5 degrees Celsius). We are starting the day with calm air, and will eventually see a south-southeast wind develop at 4 to 8 mph.
Today’s sunrise is at 7:13 a.m., and today’s sunset is at 6:20 p.m.
Clouds increase Friday night, and an area of rain will approach the state line around midnight. I’ve written this week about the potential for ice at the start, and that’s still in play. Here’s the set-up: temperatures this evening will initially fall to near freezing.
However, dewpoint temperatures will be in the 20s. So, when that rain arrives, some of it will evaporate, which causes a bit more cooling (that’s why you feel cold getting out of the shower or a pool -- water is evaporating from your skin). And that’s why some freezing rain is possible when that area of rain arrives.
But we also have two things in our favor:
- It’s happening in the middle of the night when few of us are out.
- A continued push of warm air will increase temperatures above freezing. In fact, we’ll be solidly in the mid 30s (2 degrees Celsius) by dawn Saturday.
The bottom line is that, even if freezing rain develops, it’ll only last perhaps an hour or ninety minutes before changing over to just regular rain, and we won’t be dealing with any ice when we wake up Saturday morning.
Once the rain ends first thing Saturday morning, we’ll see a decrease in cloud cover and be partly cloudy for the second half of the day. It’ll be milder, too, with highs in the mid to upper 40s (8 to 9 degrees Celsius).
Increasing clouds Saturday night, with lows near freezing (0 degrees Celsius).
Cloudy on Sunday with scattered showers possible. Highs, however, will get close to 50 degrees! And that sounds a lot better than 10 degrees Celsius for our friends across the river in Ontario…
Next week
Monday will be a windy and colder day, with a possible snow shower in the northern Thumb. Highs in the mid to upper 30s (3 degrees Celsius).
Mostly sunny on Tuesday, with highs in the mid 30s (2 degrees Celsius).
Mostly cloudy to partly cloudy on Wednesday, with highs in the low to mid 40s (6 to 7 degrees Celsius).
Mostly cloudy on Thursday, with highs in the low 40s (6 degrees Celsius).
Mostly cloudy with possible snow showers on Friday, and highs in the upper 30s (3 to 4 degrees Celsius).
It’s a long way off and this could change but, right now, next weekend looks spectacular!