Mild Monday lined up to bring February to a close – Nick

Good late Sunday evening/early Monday morning, everyone. Our final weekend of February 2022 has come to a close and we’re ready to wrap up the month as we head into Monday. A quick look back at the month showed that we had to contend with a wintry storm system 3 out of the 4 full weeks of the month. We continued to melt away the ice and snow from last Wednesday’s and Thursday’s system with continued mostly sunny skies and highs back in the lower 50s on our Sunday afternoon. While a south wind at the surface will help temperatures out once again for Monday, the upper-levels are showing a few things setting up for Monday. In addition to the jet stream coming back on top of the area, there is a quick and weak upper-level wave coming out of the western United States. That wave coming out of Nevada, Utah and Idaho will pass through Monday afternoon.

In terms of what that wave will do for us, it won’t do very much. After we get Monday morning started with mostly sunny skies, the approaching wave will bring in some partly sunny skies for the afternoon. Since the wave doesn’t have any additional moisture for any rain chances, we’ll stay dry for Monday. As for temperatures, the south wind in the morning will turn into a southwest breeze at 5-15  mph during the afternoon. That will take us from a cold start in the upper 20s and near 30° to mild afternoon highs. While Joplin is expected to top out at 60°, other areas will top out near 60° and into the lower 60s before the day is all said and done.

As we kick off March on Tuesday, the setup certainly suggests a taste of spring to begin the month. With the jet back to our north and mostly sunny skies, we’ll go from lows in the upper 30s to highs in the upper 60s across the area.

The upper-level ridge building into the Plains will continue to keep us mild for both Wednesday and Thursday. Underneath partly to mostly sunny skies, we’ll see highs in the lower 70s for both afternoon across the area.

Heading into our first weekend of March, we’ll still stay mild with highs in the upper 60s for Friday and highs near 70° for Saturday. Sticking with Doug’s pattern, though, we’ll focus on a pair of upper-level lows out to our west. The first one could bring a few showers our way late Friday and some t-storms for Saturday.

While the first wave is something we’ll keep a close eye on, the second wave wants to send additional rain chances our way by Sunday afternoon and into Sunday evening. Depending on how Friday and Saturday play out, the shifting wind could work with mostly cloudy skies and the rain chances for Sunday and force highs back down into the lower 50s.

We still have plenty of time to fine tune the forecast for next weekend. In the meantime, let’s just enjoy the next 4 days of quiet weather and temperatures that will certainly feel like March across the area. Don’t forget that Doug has your long range forecast out through much of the month of March down below. Have a good night and a great Monday!

Nick

March 7th-12th:  Looking dry and cooler for Monday before we see a little bump in temperatures for Tuesday and Wednesday.  Another wave by late Wednesday could bring some rain chances our way. Staying cool with rain or snow chances back in by the weekend.

March 13th-19th:  A cool start but most of the week will be mild.  Thunderstorms chances increasing by the weekend.

March 20th-26th:  A cool start with rain or snow chances on Sunday.  Warming up by the middle of the week with slight chances for thunderstorms mid week.  Cooling back down toward the weekend.

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