Hard freeze likely tonight and Sunday morning, stormy pattern next week

An Arctic front has moved through the area and temperatures are currently dropping behind it. We'll see highs in the upper 40s to lower 50s for this afternoon with mostly sunny skies and breezy northerly winds. Winds could be in the 10-20 mph range, gusting as high as 25-30 mph at times.

With clear skies and winds relaxing, temperatures will fall quickly after sunset. A hard freeze is likely from I-10 and points to the north as temperatures could bottom out in the 25-28 degree range. Make sure you protect the plants and the pets and keep vulnerable pipes wrapped.

Even during the day, with full sunshine, highs only manage to climb into the mid-upper 40s both Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

We'll see warmer temperatures next week but the trade-off is we will have to deal with heavy rainfall. Most of our weather has been impacted by the Polar jet stream the past few weeks, but that will change next week as the Subtropical jet stream gets active. A trough will sit over the western U.S. through next week, swinging multiple waves of energy in our direction through the week. This will lead to consecutive days of higher chances. With the potential of 1-2 inches of rain per day for a four-day period, cumulative rainfall totals of 4-8 inches could be possible. We'll most likely see isolated higher amounts of 8-10 inches.

This will be enough to cause some areal flooding issues, especially if area rivers begin to swell. We'll have to watch the pattern for next week closely.