Good morning! I'm Aaron Jolly. And welcome to the Louisiana Weather Podcast — it's Thursday, February 26th.

Sixty-six degrees at sunrise. That's warmer than some April mornings. Your overnight low barely budged — held at 65 degrees. We're running ten to fifteen degrees above normal. And this warmth is just getting started.

Southeast Louisiana climbs to 76 degrees today under partly sunny skies. Southwest winds gust to 15 miles an hour this afternoon. Up in the Capital Region, you're hitting 78 degrees. A stray shower could pop around midday, but most of you stay dry. Northwest Louisiana takes the prize. Shreveport hits 81 degrees this afternoon. A weak front arrives this evening with a slight chance of showers before 9 P.M.

Tonight's when it gets interesting. That front slides through and brings rain statewide. Southeast Louisiana sees showers between midnight and 5 A.M. The Capital Region gets a window of rain around 4 A.M. Patchy fog develops toward morning. Lows settle in the low to mid 60s south. Northwest Louisiana cools to 53 degrees behind that front.

Friday stays warm with highs in the upper 70s. Keep the umbrella handy. Showers and thunderstorms linger, especially in the morning.

The weekend looks fantastic. High pressure builds in with sunny skies Saturday and Sunday. Highs climb into the upper 70s to low 80s. Next week stays warm with highs near 80 degrees through Wednesday. Our next real rain chance holds off until midweek.

We're gaining nearly two minutes of daylight each day now. Sunrise at 6:35 this morning. Sunset at 6:02 this evening. Spring equinox is just three weeks out.

That's your forecast — we'll be back tomorrow.