LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – This past week Arkansas was stuck below freezing and covered in a layer of ice. Now the sun is up and temperatures are finally above 32°! This is only the beginning because soon some Arkansans will be seeing temperatures in the 70s!

Here in Little Rock we dropped below freezing Monday (1/30) night and didn’t get back about freezing until Thursday (2/2). This was a total of 55 hours below 32°! Starting this weekend Little Rock will likely go a whole week without getting below freezing!

Our frigid airmass will begin moving away from Arkansas this weekend. We will see our winds shift from the north to the south. A large area of high pressure will park itself to our east this weekend, and the clockwise winds around it will give us consistent winds out of the south.

On Monday we will see our next storm system approach from the west. The counterclockwise winds around that area of low pressure will strengthen our southerly flow increasing temperatures into the upper 60s and low 70s!

That storm will bring us rain Tuesday into Wednesday. When it exits temperature won’t cool, they will actually stay above average.

The warmer-than-normal temperatures look to continue well into February. The Climate Prediction Center issues 8 to 14-day temperature outlooks and the latest one shows above-average temperatures in Arkansas from 2/11 through 2/17.

For this time of year, the average temperature is supposed to be in the low 30s in the morning and the mid 50s in the afternoon. So just because temperatures are expected to be above average doesn’t mean it’s going to be warm.

Enjoy the warmer weather!