Monday Briefing: Pleasant start, unsettled finish to the week

Happy Monday and welcome to a new week! We’re expecting calm and pleasant weather today, with transient cloud cover and seasonable temperatures. This will come as a refreshing change after an unsettled weekend and rainy Sunday. The weather pattern, however, will remain very active. Multiple storm systems will eventually impact the area this week.

The pattern changes beginning on Tuesday, when the wind direction flips around to the southeast. This means most of the area will experience an “onshore flow”, with winds coming off the area waters. Cool, damp air will quickly take over. The atmospheric column will saturate, leading to a high likelihood of low clouds and drizzle. It won’t be pretty.

The same type of pattern is expected to continue into Wednesday. In fact, this onshore flow will strengthen as a storm system develops in the Central United States. Drizzle and showers are anticipated again, with high temperatures in the mid 60’s and lots of cloud cover.

The more notable story comes later this week, when the aforementioned storm develops in the Central United States. This storm system will shift into the Great Lakes later this week. Winds will turn southerly in our area ahead of the storm, with warmer air and additional moisture advecting in.

By Thursday afternoon, the potential will exist for showers and perhaps even thunderstorms. This potential for rainfall may continue into early Friday, and should be accompanied by the opportunity for gusty winds. Once this storm system slides away from the area, temporarily improving weather is likely this weekend.

Here are your morning highlights (Tl;dr):

• Pleasant and seasonable weather today with transient clouds
• Drizzle and generally terrible conditions on both Tuesday and Wednesday
• Notable storm approaches on Thursday with the potential for heavy rain
• This storm may linger in the area until Friday morning
• Improving weather expected this weekend

Stay tuned for additional details as we move through the week.