Next week should be ideal for the opening of the outdoor spring sports season in central Illinois.

Baseball and softball seasons open up and after a bit of rain and cool weather to start the weekend, things quickly turn around says Ed Shimon at the National Weather Service in Lincoln on the WHOW Morning Show Friday.

The outlook for the remainder of March is trending strongly above normal for temperatures. Shimon points out, there will be a bit of a cool down the week of March 18-22 but it will still be above normal for temperatures.

That above-normal temperature signal remains in the three-month outlook all the way into the winter of next year. We'll hear more from Shimon next week on Regional Radio.