The beautiful weather we've been having will continue today with mostly sunny skies and highs reaching the lower to middle 70s...However, winds will begin to increase from the south as the high pressure system that's been giving us the nice weather moves off to the east. Those south winds will start pulling up Gulf moisture and by later Friday night and Saturday morning skies will become cloudy.

A strong upper level disturbance and it's associated cold front will sweep through our area late Saturday and Saturday night. Because of the projected slower movement and stronger intensity of this storm system, it now looks like we will have a chance of some severe weather with this system as the Gulf moisture and the warm air ahead of the storm system will be mroe extensive than earlier projected. Therefore we should look for showers and thunderstorms Saturday afternoon and evening with at least heavy rain (good chance for 1 to 2 inches of rain across much of the area) and gusty winds and possibly even some severe activity with scattered hail and isolated tornadoes. We'll know more as we get closer to that time. Much colder air will move into the area Saturday night and on Sunday with strong northwesterly winds of 25-35 mph causing temperatures to rop into the 30s by early Sunday morning. Depending on the exact track of the surface low pressure system, there could be an extensive area of "backlash" precipitation in the cold air to the west of the storm center. This could mean some wet snow late Saturday night and Sunday morning in the northern portions of the Arklatex (southeastern Oklahoma, extreme northeast Texas and southwestern Arkansas) with even a few flurries possible in the Shreveport - Bossier area...It's very early in the game though, so we'll know more later...

One thing that is for sure is that after skies clear later Sunday and Sunday night a freeze looks like a good bet for much of the area for early Monday morning with temperatures dropping down into the upper 20s and lower 30s. A warming trend will begin Monday afternoon with sunny skies and highs getting close to 60..then we may even hit 70 on Wednesday.

The next storm system looks like it may bring us showers and thundestorms late Tuesday and into Wednesday of next week.

FORECAST DETAILS:

TODAY: Mostly sunny and warmer...High 74...Winds South, increasing to 10-15 mph.

FRIDAY NIGHT: Increasing clouds and mild...Low 49. Winds S 10-15 mph.

SATURDAY: Cloudy, windy and mild...Showers and thunderstorms will arrive during the afternoon and continue into early evening... A few storms will be heavy and possiby severe...Rain chances increasing to 90% Saturday afternoon and evening. High temperature near 64..Winds S 20 mph, becominng NWrly at the same speeds during the evening.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Rain, ending...otherwise cloudy, windy and much colder...Low near 35...winds NNW 25 mph.

SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy, windy and cold...There may be a few showers and possibly even wet snow flurries, especially in the northern portions of the Arklatex....Measureable precipitation chances: 40%. High temperatures only 38-43...Winds NW 25 mph.

Clearing, brisk and cold Sunday night...Lows 28-34...

MONDAY; Sunny and much milder by afternoon...Highs: 60...Winds NW 10-15 mph.

TUESDAY: Mostly sunny...Cold in the morning...Low 37, warm in the afternoon...High near 70...Winds S 10 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Increasing clouds, breezy and warm...Low 50, High 70...Winds SE 15 mph..Chance (40%) of showers or thunderstorms by Wednesday night.

THURSDAY: Cloudy with the chance (40%) of periods of rain and a few thunderstorms...low 55, High 65..Winds South, becoming NW 15 mph.