Cold and dry conditions start the new week in Middle Georgia

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Northwesterly drive and ensure that today is the coldest day of the week despite plenty of sunshine. If you are headed out this morning very cold wind chills

will be the concern. Through noon today widespread wind chill values in the twenties can be expected. Values should recover somewhat this afternoon, however it will feel like winter all day today. High temperatures in the 40s today.  Low relative humidity will occur in the region with minimum values between 22 and 32 percent, but recent rainfall should prevent fuels from getting to dry. Therefore, fire weather concerns are not anticipated at this time. Lingering low relative humidity values will allow fuels to dry out on Tuesday, and this may be sufficient for possible fire weather conditions. The low humidity on Tuesday will be accompanied by the start of a warming trend. Look for afternoon temperatures to rise into the 50s. As the extended forecast begins on Tuesday night, deep troughing over the Atlantic coast shifts eastward away from the region. Northwesterly flow on the backside of this trough shifts closer to a zonal east to west flow as a result. Meanwhile, high pressure over the northern Gulf meanders east and brings warm and moist flow from the Gulf into Georgia. Low temperatures on Wednesday morning will be in the low to mid 30s across most of the area while high temperatures in the afternoon will climb into the mid 60s to near 70 in Middle Georgia.  An upper level shortwave and associated low moving over the southern Great Lakes region extends a developing cold front towards the Tennessee Valley region on Wednesday. Cloud cover  increases on Wednesday. The insulating effect of the cloud cover leads to low temps in the upper 40s to low 50s overnight into Thursday morning. On Thursday, another shortwave moves in from the Great Plains through mid-Mississippi River Valley, with a surface low developing near the Missouri/Arkansas state line. The movement of this trough and low pushes the lingering  frontal boundary further south. Showers arrive ahead of this front across far north Georgia by early Thursday. Precipitation chances increase and spread southeast over the course of Thursday, becoming widespread into Friday.