Rain is falling in the area and becoming more scattered in nature. A strong cold front will plow through by morning. As it gets closer, our winds will shift and becoming gusty. Already seeing wind gusts around 30mph. Temperatures have warmed several degrees into the low 40s ahead of the front, which will be our high for the day, but once it pushes east, colder air will funnel in knocking them back into the 30s for the rest of the day. Winds will be sustained 15 to 25 mph, gusting as high as 40mph.
Rain moves out early morning Friday. As the colder air wraps in behind and winds shift to the northwest, they will come across the still warm and unfrozen waters of the Great Lakes. Lake Effect snow bands could make it this far south. Where they set up is difficult to determine but we could see light snow showers or light snow flurries in the afternoon and evening, continuing into Saturday before coming to an end Saturday night.
Keep in mind with temperatures in the 30s and strong gusty winds, it will feel much colder.
Highs over the weekend will hover in the upper 30s to near 40. Saturday winds will be much stronger at 20 to 30mph with gusts to 45mph. It will be a blustery couple of days. By Sunday the upper level flow relaxes and flattens allowing a bit more sunshine. Winds will be lighter but still breezy.
Some models are hinting at a little system Monday night into Christmas morning which may start out as snow then change to rain. Doesn’t look to be a big deal at this time but the system to watch is the one that arrives for Wednesday into Thursday. A deepening trough is expected to expand across the area dropping temperatures and an area of low pressure coming up from the southwest is expected to move into the colder air mass perhaps starting as rain then mixing and changing to snow. Too far out for details but we’ll be watching it closely.