Monday, September 9 Forecast: Francine to pay the area a visit later this week

The beautiful September skies came with a veil of wildfire smoke Monday and we may see more of that Tuesday. A little rain would help wash that out of the sky, and we may see some of that too as the remnants of “Francine” pay the area a visit later this week.

Tonight into Wednesday will feature a continuation of a very quiet and dry pattern. Temperatures are climbing, but with very dry air in place, the overnights will remain cool. The afternoons will take on more of a late summer feel as temperatures climb into the 80s with Wednesday being the warmest of the two-day stretch.

Focussing now on the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Francine is gaining strength and could become a category 1 hurricane by tomorrow.

This developing storm is currently forecast to make landfall along the Louisiana coastline Wednesday and lift northward through Arkansas Thursday. This track would bring rain into Northern Arkansas and Southern Missouri by Thursday evening. The remnants of the tropical system will likely slow down and possibly stall over Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois thanks to some upper-level ridging blocking the storm’s getaway route. That ridging will also have an impact on the exact track and could result in more of a westerly track. This would be good news given how dry it’s gotten in recent weeks. As it stands, a soaking rain is expected mainly east of Hwy. 65 Thursday night into Friday, but areas further west could see some beneficial rainfall as well.

Given the fairly dry and stable atmosphere, the storm will be moving into, severe weather isn’t anticipated and flooding doesn’t look likely.

The leftover storm system will also make for cooler and cloudier weather. Temperatures are likely to run in the upper 70s to low 80s Thursday and Friday.

Lingering shower chances will remain over the Eastern Ozarks through the weekend with areas to the west clearing out. This will result in a return to warmer temperatures as we end the weekend and head into next week.

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