Sunshine briefly returns today before rains roll in on Saturday

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - We’ll finally get to enjoy a good deal of sunshine today as an area of low pressure exits to our east. Not only will we see mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies, temperatures will also be noticeably warmer, topping out in the low 80s.

Weather looks really nice for the first Live After Five downtown this evening, with temperatures starting in the low 80s and falling through the 70s.

Rains Return on Saturday

Showers and t-storms return to the area on Saturday, with the potential for some neighborhoods to pick up multiple rounds of rainfall into Sunday morning. The first round of showers and storms is expected early Saturday as an upper-air disturbance moves across the area and a warm front begins lifting inland from the Gulf of Mexico. Once that disturbance slides east, we may see a brief lull later in the day Saturday before more rain arrives into the early morning hours of Sunday in association with a cold front.

A few strong to severe storms can’t be ruled out, with the Storm Prediction Center posting a Level 1/5 (marginal) risk of severe weather for much of our area, with a Level 2/5 (slight) risk posted just northwest of Baton Rouge. Damaging winds and hail are the greatest threats in any stronger storms, but isolated tornadoes are also possible.

In terms of rain amounts, totals should be manageable for most, but locally heavy rainfall also can’t be ruled out. The Weather Prediction Center outlook shows totals averaging 0.5″-1.0″ near and west of Baton Rouge, with totals of 1.0″-2.0″ expected near and east of Baton Rouge.

Drier, A Little Cooler by Sunday

Rains should exit for most by or before daybreak on Sunday, with some sunshine returning during the day and cooler temperatures settling into the region. Sunday’s highs are expected to top out in the mid 70s.

The cooler weather will continue through Tuesday morning before warmer temperatures make a comeback for the second half of next week. A few showers could also return during that stretch, with somewhat better rain chances possible by the following weekend.

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