WEEKEND FORECAST IS WETTER AND COOLER

Thunderstorms likely in the Austin area on Saturday and Sunday.

Lightning and thunderstorms are likely this Saturday and Sunday in the Austin metro area, so be sure to enjoy the clear skies on Friday while you can.

Forecasters anticipate lots of sunshine on the last day of March, with temperatures peaking near 88. That’s about 12 degrees above normal for this time of year and just two degrees shy of the daily heat record set on March 31, 1974.

Friday night could see increasing clouds and south-southeast winds kicking up to 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph, the National Weather Service said.

Spend some time outdoors Friday if you can, before a squall line comes through Austin.

If you’re a person who sees the rain gauge as half-full, you can look forward to the lower temperatures that the rain will bring. Temperatures aren’t forecast to rise above 80 degrees on Saturday or Sunday and will remain in the 60s and 70s for most of the weekend.

The chance of rain in Austin increases throughout the weekend, beginning at 50 percent at 7 a.m. Saturday, rising to 60 percent at 7 p.m. Saturday, then peak-

ing at 80 percent from 7 a.m. through 6 p.m. Sunday — after which the chance of rain drops significantly, according to Thursday’s forecasts.

Expect about an inch and a half of rain over those two days in Travis and surrounding counties, the weather service’s meteorologists said.

“It shouldn’t cause any widespread flooding threats — maybe some localized flooding,” said Aaron Treadway, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “We’ve had a couple of days to dry out from the last rain event, and this is going to be a quicker-moving system rather than several days of continuous rainfall.”

On Saturday, the highest chance for rain is across Williamson, northern Travis and northern Bastrop counties, Treadway said, though most of Central Texas will likely see rain at some point Saturday.

Then, “Sunday will be the big event,” Treadway said.

There’s a small risk for severe weather, such as hail, throughout the weekend, Treadway said. Lightning and thunderstorms are likely, but luckily, not all of the storms we’ll see this weekend will be thunderstorms.