Thursday Night: Partly Cloudy. Low: 49°F 

Friday: Mostly Sunny. High: 72°F

Friday Night: Mostly Clear. Low: 47°F 

Saturday: Sunny. High: 73°F

Saturday Night: Clear. Low: 55°F

============================================================================= 

General Discussion: 

Pleasant conditions will continue through the weekend. Highs will be near average with values in the low 70s. Expect plenty of sun and light winds.

Franciscus

============================================================================= 

Forecasters: Alcorn, Franciscus

Date Issued: 05/08/2025 22:00Z

Technical Discussion: 

As of 21:45 UTC, Mid-Missouri is currently experiencing a mostly sunny sky with a cool east wind. Temperatures are in the low 70s with dew points in the low 50s allowing for relatively high cloud bases. Aloft, a split flow regime is currently in place with the main (polar) jet situated in southern Canada while the subtropical jet traverses the Gulf Coast region. A weak cold front is draped from southern Ontario down the I44 corridor stretching to the Mexico border. Due to the very weak surface cyclone (currently over Canada), frontal movement is minimal. Still, subtle convergence combined with a favorable thermodynamic profile has allowed scattered convection to erupt on the warm side of the boundary. These storms will remain far to the east of the forecast area as the trough slides off to the east. Several isolated showers are moving slowly to the southwest behind the front in southern Missouri. Overnight, winds should slacken as a surface high settles into the region. Conditions will be ideal for radiational cooling. With the sharp drop in temperature combined with light winds and saturated boundary layer, fog will be possible. A sharp inversion will allow for patchy dense fog, especially in river valleys and low lying areas.

During the day Friday, winds will veer to a more southerly component. This will halt the cold air advection and keep temperatures relatively seasonal. The profile should be fairly dry with the exception of the anvil level (around 300mb) where saturation should allow for a cirrus plume to advect into the region. Clouds should exit the region during the overnight hours which will cause temperatures to fall to the upper 40s. With the gradual increase in low level moisture, conditions will again be favorable for areas of dense fog to develop. 

On Saturday, Mid-Missouri will be underneath a developing ridge as the cut off low spins off to the east. Sky conditions will be clear allowing temperatures to warm to the low to mid 70s. This pattern will continue for the foreseeable future keeping Columbia in pleasant spring weather. Lows overnight Saturday will be in the mid 50s as the developing ridge takes further effect. 

Franciscus