Today's balmy weather to end this evening

Taking a look at StormView radar at 4:00pm, isolated light showers are beginning to pop up in northeast AR ahead of a strong winter cold front. Along the front, stretching from north-central to west-central AR, Little Rock NEXRAD is detecting a narrow band of rain, with some embedded heavy downpours. These showers will increase in intensity and coverage over the next several hours as the front sweeps east. Look for the front to pass through the metro region between 9-11pm this evening, with some showers ahead of it, moderate to heavy rain right along the front, and continuous light to moderate rainfall for a couple of hours after the front passes. Rain totals of 0.75"-1.00" are possible tonight.

In addition, the passage of the front will signal an end to today's "balmy" 60+ degree weather, with temps dropping up to 15 degrees in the hour or two after the front passes and bottoming out in the morning in the mid to upper 30s! Very little recovery will take place tomorrow with highs in the 40-45 degree range.

Another cold spell coming

Abnormally cool weather will continue for some time, based on the latest information from the Climate Prediction Center, which shows us to remain well below normal temperature-wise for the next couple of weeks. See the map above for Dec. 10-16 temperature probabilities that gives us a 50-60% chance of below normal temps. The eastern 2/3 of the U.S. will remain under the dominance of an upper-level trough which will serve to push cold Canadian-influenced air into the eastern U.S. Look for the pattern to remain similar to this past week with a couple of "mild" days separated by cold blasts behind potent cold fronts.

Tomorrow will be one of the "hills" between the "valleys" as we top out near 60 with strong, gusty southerly wind. The cold blast arrives tomorrow evening, accompanied by moderate to possibly heavy rain for a few hours between 5-10pm, and a sudden switch to strong northerly wind dropping temperatures during the evening hours - possibly on the magnitude of 15 degrees over the course of an hour or two. We will then stay cold again for a couple of days with highs in the mid 40s at best on Thursday and Friday. Recovery takes place over the weekend, with another strong front early Tuesday of next week.

Check out the latest forecast from MemphisWeather.net.