11:00pm Weather Update: Enjoy It While You Can

The official high temperature at the Cape Girardeau airport was 60° this afternoon. This is the highest temperature in the last 27 days. The previous day this warm was January 19 (61°).

Another interesting weather factoid I pulled up this evening. I wanted to compare the start of this year to 2009. You will remember that 2009 was the year of the MAJOR ice storm that hit the area.

Number of 60°+ days January 1 through February 19.

• 2009: 8 (2 in January & 6 in February)
• 2010: 2 (1 in January & 1 in February)

I have just been looking over the data coming in late tonight. Tomorrow is looking like another good day. High temperatures will range from the lower 50's to around 60° again.

I think we should see a good deal of sunshine during the morning and early afternoon. Clouds will start to increase and then rain will start to move in from the west. Our hi-res model, RPM, is hinting at a line of rain, with embedded thunderstorms, moving in to our western counties of southeast Missouri around 6pm CT. Some thunder is not out of the question tomorrow evening. No concerns. Nothing severe is expected.

Enjoy the mild temperatures tomorrow as everything is pointing to a return of cold air starting Monday evening. The coldest day should be Wednesday with Thursday morning being the coldest morning. Currently, I am going for a high temperature of 30° for both Wednesday and Thursday, but some of the new data coming in tonight is making my number look a little optimistic. Perhaps highs in the 20°'s? We shall see...