DETROIT – Fortunately, clear skies overnight will yield a nice treat for you early morning risers: The Aquarid meteor shower!
This meteor shower is for you if you're up early...prime time is between 3 a.m. and 5:45 a.m. and, even though the most meteors will be seen by people in the Southern Hemisphere, any that we see could be particularly spectacular.
By the way, this meteor shower occurs every year as the earth passes through the dusty debris left behind Halley's Comet. Each meteor you see is a piece of rock the size of a piece of Grape Nut cereal as it burns up brightly in our atmosphere. And here's a nice piece of trivia: Earth passes through this stream twice a year! The spring occasion is called the Aquarids, and the fall version is called the Orionids.
Tweet me at @PaulGrossLocal4 if you see any!
Tuesday forecast:
Once the sun comes up, the meteor shower is over for you and me, and we'll see a mostly sunny and pleasant Tuesday, with highs in the low 60s. East-northeast wind at 5 to 10 mph. Increasing clouds Tuesday night, with lows in the low to mid 40s.
Showers and thunderstorms develop ahead of an approaching warm front. The activity will decrease from south to north as the front progresses northward across the area, so the farther south you are, the quicker the rain ends and you start warming up. Consequently, those of you near the state line will probably see highs reach the low to mid 70s; the central part of the area will be in the upper 60s to near 70, and those of you to the north will be stuck in the low to mid 60s. Partly cloudy Wednesday night, with lows in the mid 50s.
Partly cloudy to mostly sunny and warm on Thursday, with highs in the upper 70s -- perhaps 80 in some areas! Then, temps only fall to around 60 Thursday night.
There's a good chance for showers and thunderstorms sometime Friday into Friday night. Highs in the low 70s, Friday, and lows in the mid to upper 50s Friday night.
Partly cloudy on Saturday, with highs in the mid 60s.
There is tremendous uncertainty among the computer models about the Mother's Day forecast -- I wouldn't make any plans yet based upon the weather. The CMC and ECMWF models keep us dry and pleasant, with highs in the mid to upper 60s, but the GFS model brings in rain by the end of the day.
It'll be a couple of days before I can sort this out, so stay tuned. I'll try and get that important holiday forecast nailed down for you as quickly as I can.