SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Welcome to the first day of Spring! It will feel like winter with freezing temperatures this morning but warmer weather returns soon. These weeks are following a script as the warmer weather will eventually lead to late-week storms and keep us on alert for possible severe weather.

Dry and cool Monday: Temperatures will be in the 20s and low 30s, below freezing in most areas at sunrise. You will feel the sting of the crisp cold air through the morning, but by the afternoon high pressure will shift east. This will allow a south wind to return and warm our temperatures into the upper 50s and low 60s today, a few degrees warmer than the weekend. Skies will be mostly sunny to partly cloudy with a southeast breeze below 10 miles per hour. There will not be a freeze tonight as lows will be in the 40s throughout the ArkLaTex.

Breezy and warmer midweek: Clouds will return tonight as the humidity returns in the upcoming days. High temperatures will be near 70 degrees Tuesday, with a slight chance of late-day rainfall across the northern ArkLaTex. We will jump to about 80 degrees as a warm front cranks the temperatures and humidity up Wednesday and Thursday.

Severe weather risk late Thursday into Friday (use slider to adjust)

Thunderstorms return late Thursday into Friday: It seems we can’t break out of the pattern of late-week cold fronts and this week will be no exception. Another strong Pacific low will drag a cold front into the region late Thursday into Friday. As of now, it looks like severe weather will develop in central Texas Thursday afternoon and these storms will weaken as they move into the ArkLaTex Thursday night. A few storms may carry a risk for damaging wind gusts, but the Storm Prediction Center has kept most of us out of the Thursday severe weather outlook. Redevelopment of storms is possible Friday, but it appears as if the severe weather threat would be mainly east of us. Even though we are not in the severe weather outlook late Thursday, I believe some areas of the ArkLaTex will be placed in the outlook late this week for the wind potential Thursday night into early Friday morning.

The weekend will begin with dry and pleasant weather, but another chance of rain and a few storms will return Sunday. The long-range pattern is showing temperatures mostly in the 70s and 80s for the remainder of the month and into the first week of April.