Cloudy skies, muggy air, dew covered cars and lawns -- sure felt like a spring morning when you woke up this Thursday, didn't it? Honestly, when I walked out the door for work this morning, I thought to myself "It feels like a severe weather day."  Now, we aren't looking for any severe weather today (or anytime soon for that matter) but it shows the magnitude of what a spring-like morning is like in the Brazos Valley.

Well Above Normal

Here's the climate data for this day in January:

Let's look at this in a couple of different ways.  

1. Our morning started in the upper 50s to mid 60s across the Brazos Valley.  Roughly 20° ABOVE the "normal" low for today.  
2. Wake up temperatures were in the upper 50s to mid 60s.  Our "normal" daytime high for today is 62°. We started our day with temperatures that are supposed to appear by the closing bell of the day.
3. Our "normal" daytime high yesterday was 61°.  Today it's 62°. Remember today when we reach summer and it feels like the surface of a very humid sun outside.  Today marks the gradual warm-up for the year until we start our "cooling" trend late in the year.

Where did Winter Go?

Ask any resident north of the Red River or across the Eastern US and you'll know that Old Man Winter is still blowing and going.  Temperatures started off below zero across parts of Minnesota and the Dakotas this morning, with wind chills as low as between -20° and -30°.

A cold front is splitting the country between mild spring-like and arctic winter.  Texas will see highs this afternoon range anywhere from the 50s to the mid 80s.  Dallas / Fort Worth looks for a high in the mid 70s today, while just across that Red River, Oklahoma City is only expected to climb to a cold 37°!  Talk about your temperature difference...

Weekend "Cold" Front

A weak cold front is on schedule to slip into the Brazos Valley on Friday afternoon.  That may spark up a shower or two for your evening plans -- possibly as much as a few rumbles of thunder.

That front is going to get hung up right over our backyard.  With it in the neighborhood, a spotty shower is not out of the question from Friday afternoon and then on through the weekend.  We'll have to watch the location of that boundary -- as of now we don't have it sagging very far through the Brazos Valley.  If it can make it slightly more to the south of the area, that may make the difference between the low or upper 60s on Saturday.

Regardless, 70s are a safe bet again on Sunday and through much of next week until an upper-level trough swings through bringing rain chances and a stronger cold front to the area in about a week.