Tracking a breezy summer-like homecoming weekend

Today: Hot and sunny with highs hitting the mid-80s. Expect a nice cooling breeze with gusts up to 30 mph throughout the day.

Tomorrow: Warm again as highs track towards the mid-80s. More cloud cover will mitigate the warmup somewhat, though gusty southerly winds continue.

Extended: A Red Flag Warning is in effect for The Lake counties today due to a combination of extremely dry air and high winds. All of Mid-MO will experience these conditions so it's important to avoid burning this weekend. Fire danger drops on Sunday as more moisture streams in, though we aren't set to receive any rainfall quite yet. The best shot at rain comes with a cold front and a strong low pressure system impacting us between Monday and Tuesday. We'll begin to see widespread cloud cover on Monday with a few isolated showers by afternoon, but the majority of rain coverage won't arrive until Monday night through Tuesday night. Temperatures still make the mid-70s on Monday before the cold front arrives, but showers become more widespread overnight and we remain in the low 50s into Tuesday morning. Rain likely exits between late Tuesday night and Wednesday, leaving us around 60 for Wednesday afternoon. Rain amounts will range between 1-2" on the higher end, with an additional 0.25" to 0.5" on Friday with another potential system on the way.