Cold westerly front in the mix

It will be a cold and windy night on Tuesday, with low barometric pressure and a cold front from the west still affecting the area with chances of showers and thunderstorms.

Weather officials say there are increasing chances of sleet and snow over the mountains, while very strong winds from the west will be affecting the entire island Tuesday evening and Wednesday. Relatively calm sea is expected to turn into very choppy waters by evening hours and all day Thursday.

Tuesday and Wednesday skies will be partly cloudy with chances of showers and isolated thunderstorms over local areas, with sleet and possibly snow expected at the highest elevations.

Thursday weather will be mostly clear with periods of scattered clouds, while evening skies and all day Friday will be mostly cloudy with rain showers and isolated thunderstorms. However, rainy weather is expected to improve before the day is out, with Saturday skies mostly clear but also with periods of scattered clouds.

Maximum high temperatures on Wednesday will reach 15° Celsius inland, 17 in all coastal regions, while it will be 5 degrees up in the highest elevations.

Temperatures are expected to drop suddenly on Thursday, but only slightly, while they will pick back up again Friday and Saturday where they will remain close to the normal averages for this time of the year.

A Meteorology Department official went on state radio on Tuesday to say rain chances this week are hard to pin down due to low barometric pressure, causing inconsistent yet short-lived patterns.