Tracking a big warm up by Thursday and Friday

TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with gradual clearing by daybreak. Lows in the upper 20s with wind chills in the upper teens to around 20.

TOMORROW: Decreasing clouds with highs in the upper 40s.

EXTENDED: Despite the lack of snowfall, it's still chilly with temperatures in the upper 30s late this afternoon. Clouds gradually exit into tomorrow morning with lows in the upper 20s and wind chills in the upper teens to low 20s. We see more sunshine and winds shifting to the southwest, pulling us back closer to normal as highs reach the upper 40s. Thursday and Friday look marvelous albeit windy with highs in the low 60s Thursday. A strong low pressure system will be moving in from the west on Friday, and we'll have to watch the timing of that. If it moves in faster, there's a better shot of seeing some rain and we'll have cooler temperatures. The more delayed the system, the drier and warmer we'll be during the day. Right now, it looks like the best shot of rain will be in the eastern half of the area by evening. Before that, highs could get up to the low 70s, which would break a record high in Columbia (69 in 2020). Behind the cold front, we're cooler on Saturday with highs remaining in the mid-40s. We quickly rebound toward the end of the weekend into next week with an upper level ridge of high pressure pulling in south winds and mild temperatures in the 50s and 60s. We continue to be warmer and drier than normal into next week.