Forecasters at the National Weather Service in Newport, N.C., are delivering a Valentine’s week forecast that isn’t very sweet or poetic or any of the other things we think of around this holiday.
Mother Nature promises to serve up high winds, heavy surf, a chance for coastal flooding, and some rain tomorrow into Wednesday, followed by another cold front and frigid temperatures — the coldest of the winter so far — Friday into Monday.
This afternoon, the Weather Service in Newport issued a wind advisory, a gale warning for the ocean and sound, a high surf advisory, and a coastal flood advisory for the Outer Banks.
A cold front is forecast to cross the Outer Banks tonight with an 80 percent chance of rain tonight and 50 percent tomorrow. Coastal low pressure will form early Tuesday southeast of the area and deepen as it moves by offshore well to our east. The tight pressure gradient between the low to the east and a strong high to the west will result in high northerly winds and heavy surf.
Here are the details:
The really frigid air will arrive just in time for the Valentine’s Day weekend.
Another cold front is forecast to cross the area Thursday night with little or no rainfall with it.
However, temperatures will fall into the 20s by Friday morning, and highs on Friday are expected to be in the mid-30s. The same is forecast for Saturday, with perhaps even colder temperatures for Sunday. The frigid weather will last at least into Monday, which is the observance of Washington’s birthday.
“That’s still four or five days out,” said NWS forecaster David Glenn, “so (temperatures) might moderate a little before then.”
While it might not be a Valentine’s forecast to love, we can be happy that we don’t live in Boston.
Stay warm and keep the faucets dripping to avoid frozen pipes.
For more information and the latest advisories and forecasts, go to http://www.weather.gov/mhx/.
