Breezy night across Mid-Missouri, with record highs possible Monday
TONIGHT: It’s shaping up to be a mild and breezy night across Mid-Missouri. Partly cloudy skies and gusty winds up to 25 mph out of the south will keep temperatures in the mid-50s. It’s possible we could tie the warmest low of 58 degrees set back in 2001. Some drizzle is possible through the overnight hours into early tomorrow morning as the low-level jet strengthens, but most locations will remain on the dry side.
MONDAY: After several weeks of quiet weather, Monday will end that spell. It will be a warm start to the day and winds will be quite breezy. We’ll see sustained winds out of the south/southwest up to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Some isolated spots could see gusts even higher. If you have any Christmas decorations outside, you may want to make sure they are anchored down. Despite the cloudy skies that’s expected, temperatures will warm to near 70 degrees through the afternoon hours. It’s likely we could tie the record of 70 set back in 1933. AM showers are possible as southerly winds continue to pump in more moisture, but most of the rain we’ll see will be associated with a strong cold front that pulls through Mid-Missouri through the afternoon hours. While the rain will be beneficial to the region it really won’t put a dent in the lack of rain that we’ve seen the past few months. As the cold front rolls through we could see a few strong storms with damaging winds embedded within the storms. It’s for this reason that most of Mid-Missouri is under a marginal risk for severe weather. The line of storms is expected to approach Hwy 65 by 3PM as they storms track off to the south. Columbia and Jefferson City will see the line of storms by 5-6PM, with areas near I-44 seeing the storms by 7-8PM. Rainfall accumulations will vary from up to .10″ near to the northwest, with locations approaching .30″ near I-44. Once the front clears we’ll see winds remain breezy, which will introduce a limited fire hazard due to the dry conditions we’ve been seeing. The cold air will follow suit, with overnight lows bottoming out near freezing.
EXTENDED: Cooler air moves in by Monday night, leaving us with a seasonal day Tuesday into Wednesday, with high temperatures in the low to mid-40s. With Mid-Missouri, placed on the westward extent of the upper level trough, we’ll continue to see reinforcing shots of cold air. The northwest flow aloft pattern will continue to pull waves of cold air into the region, with temperatures falling into the 30s for highs by Thursday and overnight lows in the upper 10s and lower 20s. There is a chance we could see some flurries to light snow as we head into Thursday and Friday as a clipper tracks to our north. By the start of next week temperatures look to moderate back towards seasonal, as highs will top out in the lower 40s. Watch ABC17 news for the latest forecast and follow ABC17 Stormtrack on Twitter for updates.
