The great fall weather continues into the second half of our weekend, before showers and even a couple of stronger storms arrive Sunday night.
High pressure moves offshore on Sunday, allowing a strong cold front to approach from the west. The day will start dry and mild under increasing clouds, with highs reaching the mid-upper 70s and dew points climbing into the 60s. It will feel noticeably more humid and breezier this afternoon, with gusts near 30 mph possible.
Showers are expected to hold off until late Sunday night as the front moves closer. The cold front will sweep through overnight into Monday morning, bringing a period of rain and a few gusty showers or isolated storms.
Instability looks limited, but a high amount of spin in the atmosphere could allow for a stronger wind gust to mix down with the heavier showers. The spin in the atmosphere will also produce a small threat for an isolated tornado.
While the threat is low, the timing of this threat for storms will be while most people are sleeping, which is why the NEXT Weather Team has issued a NEXT Weather Alert for Sunday night. Make sure that you have a way to receive severe weather alerts for your area in case a warning is issued overnight.
Otherwise, rainfall totals between a quarter inch and just over 1 inch are possible, but flooding is not expected.
Rough timeline for Sunday’s showers, storms
From now until around 8 p.m.: Dry, warm and breezy conditions
From around 8 p.m. to 12 a.m.: Isolated showers move into the region
From around 12 a.m. to 2 a.m.: Line of storms, isolated embedded gusty/severe storms with small tornado risk
From around 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.: Rain exits, skies partially clear, still breezy
Cool air comes back to town
Behind the front, temperatures drop sharply with highs Monday in the mid-50s to mid-60s and lingering clouds. While most of the region will be dry on Monday, there could be a few stray showers to the north on Monday afternoon.
A second, weaker cold front arrives Tuesday night into Wednesday with only scattered showers. Behind it, colder and drier air settles in, setting up potential frost or freeze conditions in some inland areas by Thursday night. High temperatures look to only peak in the low 60s for the second half of the week into the weekend.
