Monday was a stellar day on all cylinders.

With abundantly sunny skies, plus high temperatures in the upper 60s, yesterday became an incredible day to head outdoors and take in a treat from Mother Nature. While the warmth will still be with us today, so will clouds and chances for showers. 

Partly to mostly cloudy skies are expected on a potentially record-breaking Tuesday. The five-year-old record high temperature for this day is 69°, although most locales are expected to break 70. A light shower or two is possible in the afternoon, though the heaviest rain likely won’t impact us until late overnight. That’s because a warm front will move into our area, giving us repeated chances for some heavier pockets of rain, and even a thunderstorm is possible.

On another potentially record-breaking mild day, showers are likely, although specifics are uncertain at this point. Depending on how this low-pressure system tracks, steady, persistent rain may open up the day. We could see a brief break in the action, allowing for a bit of a warm-up around 70°, though thunderstorms will move through in the evening. As a best guess, we're expecting the main line of thunderstorms to move through between 4PM and 9PM. The U.S. Storm Prediction Center has outlined our communities in a level ? severe thunderstorm risk, similar to Saturday’s chances. Like the last risk, thunderstorms with damaging winds will be the highest risk, though we are expecting more rainfall, with communities likely receiving an inch or so of accumulation. After thunderstorms come to an end, a cold front will pass overnight, dropping temperatures around 30 degrees. It will be a weather whiplash overnight; flurries will be a possibility for some as we wake up on Thursday.

Temperatures will not recover, likely not even reaching average. Snow showers, some lake-enhanced, may be a possibility throughout the day as high temperatures will only get around 40 degrees. While a persistent breeze will ease up in the afternoon, it will still feel much, much chillier than the days past.

A clipper system may pass to our north on Thursday night, leading our area to get a couple of blow-by snow showers overnight into Friday. If this precipitation sticks around into Friday, snow will turn to rain as we’re forecasting high temperatures soaring into the 50s. It will be a breezy day, as well; some locations around the valley could have wind gusts up to 50 mph. Temperatures will drop back down into the 30s overnight, with skies becoming partly cloudy.

Dry weather looks to win over the bulk of the day on a seasonable Saturday. Later overnight, however, there is a chance for another system to impact our area, though details and timing are way too early at this point. The system has made a northerly trend as of late, meaning rainfall is becoming less likely during the day Sunday; though a strong cold front could pass through overnight, bringing rain back and dropping temperatures sharply.

As we open up next week, temperatures will resemble the month of February rather than March. Lake-effect snow looks to win over the day after Sunday’s system passes through our area.