Warm weather won't last long

[TexasStooge]

From The Dallas Morning News Staff Reports

The weather will be taking North Texans from the penthouse to the outhouse in just two days.

After highs near 80 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday, a cold air mass will drop the temperatures to a high in the lower 40s on Friday, with a chance of rain. The cold, rainy weather will continue into Monday.

The normal high for this time of year is 55 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

The only days that the National Weather Service has marked more than a trace of rain in 2006 have been Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The most substantial was Jan. 28, a Saturday, when 1.59 inches fell at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the area's official recording station.

Meteorologist Vick Corbelli explained that at this time of the year, the systems that bring rain enter the region about every seven days. As spring approaches, the length of time between systems shortens to three to five days. By spring, the fronts with the "nasty thunderstorms" arrive every one to three days.

Unfortunately, the systems have been arriving on weekends.

"It would've been nicer if it'd been Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday," Corbelli said. "We take the good with the bad. And we certainly need the rain."

The low Wednesday night will be in the upper 50s, followed by temperatures in the upper 70s on Thursday, with winds at 15 to 25 mph.

"It's Thursday night into Friday when things start to take a dive for the worse," Corbelli said.

By Friday morning, temperatures will be in the upper 30s, with a 20 percent chance of rain, which will increase to 40 percent by Friday night.

Temperatures will be near freezing by Saturday morning and reach no higher than the lower 40s. The chance of rain is 40 percent, dropping back to 30 percent in the evening.

Corbelli said there was a "slight" chance for freezing rain early Sunday, when lows will be in the lower 30s.

The chance for rain will be 30 percent on Sunday and Monday.

Corbelli said the rainfall total likely won't amount to more than a quarter inch over the entire weekend.

"Just light stuff, which is unfortunate," he said. "We need some heavier stuff."