Louisiana Weather 3/8 Midday - Record Cold

Good afternoon. Louisiana. I'm Matt Mullins. Before we dive in, tonight's the night — clocks spring forward one hour. You'll lose an hour of sleep, but hey, you gain more evening sunshine. Fair trade? Debatable. About that weather. We picked up nearly five inches of rain overnight, but the skies are finally clearing. Southeast Louisiana. Here comes 79 degrees this afternoon before cooling to 75. There's a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms between 1 P.M. and 7 P.M., so keep an eye on the radar if you've got outdoor plans. Tonight drops to 67 with patchy fog rolling in after the storms clear. The Capital Region runs similar — highs around 77 with a 40 percent chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy today, then patchy fog tonight as temperatures settle near 67. Northwest Louisiana gets the driest conditions. Partly sunny skies with highs near 72 and light winds. Tonight brings mostly cloudy skies with lows around 63, plus a slight chance of storms after 4 A.M. Monday brings patchy morning fog statewide, clearing by 10 A.M. Highs climb into the low 80s with scattered afternoon storms possible. Tuesday and Wednesday? We're talking mid-80s — some areas could flirt with record highs. Wednesday afternoon brings a 50 to 70 percent chance of storms as a cold front pushes through. Behind that front, we finally cool down. Thursday sees sunny skies with highs in the upper 60s and lows dropping into the upper 40s to mid-50s — our first real taste of average March weather. Friday and Saturday look beautiful with sunny skies and highs in the upper 70s to low 80s. Don't forget to set those clocks forward tonight. See you this evening.