Cold Through the Weekend, Warmer & Rainy Next Week

WBBJ 7 Forecast Update

January 19, 2024

Joel Barnes,

WBBJ 7 Forecast Update:

We have a couple more cold days before the warm up starts next week. The wind chill will be below zero again both weekend mornings and temperatures will fall to the single digits tonight and Saturday night. Warmer weather is coming next week but so is the return of the rain. Catch the latest hour by hour forecast for your weekend and we will let you know when we could be back up into the 60s, all coming up here.

RECORD COLD THIS WEEK:

Temperatures stayed below 15° for a 72 hour period from Sunday night until Wednesday afternoon for most of West Tennessee. Jackson set record low maximum temperatures for both Monday (12°) and Tuesday (13°). On top of that, Wednesday morning was the coldest day since 1985 and the 4th coldest day in recorded history in Jackson dropping to -10°. The coldest day ever was January 24, 1963 with a recorded low of -13°.

WIND CHILL ADVISORY:

Extreme cold is moving in again tonight and the wind chill (feels like) will drop below 0° again. The wind chill through Sunday morning will be between 0 & -10°. A wind chill advisory is issued when Cold temperatures and brisk wind causing hazardous wind chills of zero to -15°F are imminent or occurring. Hypothermia and frostbite are possible if proper precautions are not taken. The temperature may not warm up above freezing until Monday afternoon.

TONIGHT:

Both Friday night and the upcoming weekend will likely be quite cold again as well. Some single digit mornings will likely return for both weekend mornings. Do not let your winter guard down yet. The blowing winds will push water back onto the roadways in spots that will freeze tonight. Some black ice is going to be prevalent tonight and again on Saturday morning. We will not be warming up above freezing on Saturday and will be close to the low 30s on Sunday.

FRIDAY INTO THE WEEKEND:

The winds gusted as high as 35 MPH and were sustained between 15-20 MPH on Friday and came out of the northwest! Friday was a dry but cold day with highs only reaching the mid 20s. We should see clouds clearing out on Friday night making for another very cold morning on Saturday. Saturday morning lows are forecast again to fall down to the low single digits and another wind chill advisory is on for both Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Highs on Saturday will struggle to get above 20° but we should see mostly sunny skies. The winds on Saturday will come out of the north before transitioning back to the southeast on Sunday. Saturday night will again be cold with lows falling down to the mid single digits. Sunday we will warm up a bit to the mid 30s and again we should see plenty of sunshine. Sunday night into next Monday will bring a start to some warmer weather back to the Mid South.

NEXT WEEK:

Rain showers will be returning Monday night and stick around into the day on Tuesday. The rain will linger into Wednesday as well and become heavy again late in the day on Wednesday. Some people will see another 1-2″ of rain. The rain, plus the melting snow, could lead to some flooding concerns next week and that is something we are also going to be watching in the 7 Storm Team Weather Center. More rain will return on Thursday into Friday as well bringing an additional 1-2″ of rain. Some areas may top 3″ of rain from Monday evening through Friday afternoon next week.

Highs will warm up next week from the mid 40s Monday, to low 50s Tuesday and mid 50s on Wednesday. Highs will be around 60° on Thursday and Friday next week , but that could lead to a few storms as well. The winds will come out of the south and it will be a mostly cloudy first half of next week. Some storms may try to mix in during the week but as of now, we are not expecting a round of severe storms to accompany the rain. Temperatures are forecast to stay above normal for the rest of the month of January and continue into the beginning of February as well.

FINAL THOUGHT:

Some areas saw over 4″ of rain this week between the first two systems and snow on top of it. Water levels are going to be running high for the next week or so. EXTREME bitter life threatening cold will linger through the weekend so please be prepared for slick roads in spots until next week. Warmer and rainy weather is coming next week. Heavy rain and melting snow could create some flooding hazards as well.