Holiday weekend weather details starting to emerge

Thursday lows in mid-50s

DETROIT – As promised, we had to endure a cool, wet day today. The large upper level storm system that brought wave after wave of rain across the area is finally starting to nudge eastward and it’ll take the rain with it tonight, although clouds will hang tough. Lows in the mid 50s (12 degrees Celsius).  West wind at 5 to 10 mph.

Friday should start cloudy, but we’ll eventually start seeing some thinning of the clouds and, by mid to late afternoon, may even improve to partly cloudy skies. That sun sure will have a positive impact on our collective psyches! Temperature should respond to the sunshine, and reach the low 70s (22 degrees Celsius).  West to southwest wind at 5 to 10 mph.

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A weak low pressure area passing just south of the state may bring a few showers Friday night. Lows in the upper 50s (15 degrees Celsius).

Memorial Day weekend weather

Even if we wake up to a few showers Saturday morning, those will end pretty quickly, and the rest of the day should be dry. In fact, as some sunshine develops we should warm up into the mid to upper 70s (25 degrees Celsius).  Caveat: one computer model does try to kick up a couple of late afternoon showers but, right now, I consider that a low probability.

We should wake up to a dry start on Sunday, but rain chances increase through the day. Highs in the mid 70s (24 degrees Celsius). The way things look right now, this will be a steady light rain…not scattered showers…when it arrives.

Memorial Day morning should be dry…that’s great news for all of the parades around town. I have a remarkable track record as a longtime co-emcee of the Farmington Memorial Day parade on Grand River west of Farmington Road: it has never rained on me as my co-emcee, Kelly Duca, and we ride down the parade route in the first car, and I sure don’t want to break that streak just yet. So come on down to downtown Farmington as we honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for America. It’s a great parade, and everything gets started at 10 a.m. Monday afternoon however, brings the chance for scattered showers to pop up. There won’t be a front coming through…the showers will result from cold air aloft making things unstable as we heat up into the low 70s (22 degrees Celsius) here at the surface.  So have the umbrella handy if you’re grilling…just in case.

The rest of the week

Tuesday and Wednesday bring additional shower chances. It won’t rain all day each day…the best shower chances are in the afternoons. But it’s still not the nice weather we all expect at this point in May, and especially with highs in the upper 60s (20 degrees Celsius).

As I’ve been mentioning all week long, I think the big pattern change to a more typical end of May / early June pattern will commence the first week of June.  So expect gradual warming as we head into Detroit Grand Prix weekend, with highs rebounding back into the 70s (25 degrees Celsius).