The workweek will wrap up quiet and fall-like, setting up nice weather for Friday Night High School Football. The college games over the weekend may not be as lucky when the next impact arrives.

Tonight & Tomorrow: High clouds will escape east overnight, and mainly clear skies will allow another chilly low in the mid 50s for most. Friday is expected to be mostly sunny with a high in the low to mid-80s.  

Friday Night Blitz: After a somewhat muggy night last Friday, clear and comfortable weather returns for high school action this week. Temperatures will cool through the 70s during the games, possibly reaching the 60s in some neighborhoods, so you might want to take an extra layer.

Weekend: A developing storm system will arrive over the weekend with the potential to bring locally heavy rainfall and even a few strong thunderstorms to the Baton Rouge area. While not fully locked in, confidence in the timing of this system is becoming clearer. Saturday will be mainly cloudy and a touch muggy with highs in the low 80s. A decaying batch of rain and thunderstorms is expected around midday and could be in the area for a few hours. A lull is expected after the first round, possibly lasting well into the night. However, this is the timing detail that is still uncertain — exactly when the next round will begin. The current thinking is that the second round will develop very late Saturday night or Sunday morning. That second round should be more widespread and intense. Any thunderstorms during that activity could cause gusty winds and downpours. In fact, rain could come quickly enough that street and poor drainage flooding could occur in isolated pockets. All told, 1-3 inches is expected through Sunday, which would be a beneficial soak for most locations, as long as it does not fall too fast. Conditions should dry up and quiet down just as the weekend concludes. Late-day clearing may allow temperatures to sneak into the 80s during the afternoon.

LSU & Southern Football: Be ready to battle the elements for your tailgate and game plans. The good news is that the day does not look like it will be a washout, but be aware of a safe lightning shelter just in case, and take rain gear to the tailgate. It would be surprising if some rain didn’t fall at some point during the middle of the day. A break in the action may materialize around kickoff, at 4 p.m. for Southern and 6:30 p.m. for LSU. But still plan on taking a poncho into the stadiums — spotty activity will still be still possible. Monitor the Storm Station forecast for updates.

Next Week: The atmosphere will become less supportive of widespread rain for the beginning of next week. However, it will remain mild and muggy enough to support a mention of spotty showers Monday and Tuesday. Each day, temperatures will feature highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s. By the middle of next week, a much stronger front and push of cooler air is expected. Temperatures will likely dip below average heading into Halloween, indicating some highs in the upper 60s with lows in the mid-40s.

The Tropics: Tropical Storm Melissa is currently drifting north-northwest, located about 200 miles south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. A Tropical Storm Warning is now in effect for the southwest coast of Haiti, with heavy rains and life-threatening flooding expected across Hispaniola and Jamaica through the weekend. Melissa currently has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph and is moving very slowly north-northwest at 2 mph. A slow northward movement is forecast for the next couple of days before the storm is expected to turn westward over the weekend, bringing it closer to Jamaica and southwestern Haiti. Gradual strengthening is expected, with Melissa forecast to become a hurricane in a couple of days and a major hurricane by the end of the weekend.

Get the latest 7-day forecast and real-time weather updates HERE.

Watch live news HERE.

– Josh 

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