by Malcolm Butler
After dodging the wintry precipitation last week, Lincoln Parish is in store for some even colder temperatures at night starting this weekend and heading into early next week.
However, early indications are outside of maybe some possible rain or a few snow showers Monday that shouldn’t amount to much, our area will just be downright frigid.
Gary Chatelain, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Shreveport, said Monday night that a huge arctic blast from the North Pole is set to break away and follow the Rocky Mountains into Texas and across to Louisiana and into Florida.
“The entire North Pole is in darkness right now,” said Chatelain. “It’s a complete breeding ground for cold air. It’s arctic cold. There is no maritime influence. It’s super dry. It’s heavy.
“Eventually this cold air sitting on top of the planet breaks loose and now its mobile. Because the Rocky’s are like a fence that go up into Canada … with this cold air coming it can’t get over the Rocky’s so it comes straight out of Canada and ends up in Texas. It comes really fast. It’s called a Blue Norther.
“It’s a straight north wind coming across the plains. It arrives quickly because it’s so heavy. We will go from 60s to 40s when this thing hits Sunday.”
Chatelain said the air mass would begin to move into our area Sunday although “it’s still anchored in Canada. That’s how big it is. It’s a monster. (The front edge) will get to Cancun before its core reaches Arkansas.”
According to the models, temperatures will dip down to the low 20 degrees Sunday night, Monday night and Tuesday morning although highs will reach the mid-to-upper 30s during the days.
It doesn’t appear that the next cold front will generate any type of major winter impact to our area outside of cold temps.
“Martin Luther Day (Monday) we could see a chance of rain or snow showers in the morning, but nothing impactful,” said Chatelain. “This is just not an impactful situation. There just isn’t enough moisture to make any type of impact.”
