Increasing clouds, much colder temperatures Thursday

It’s going to be cool and increasingly cloudy Thursday in the metro-east.

The high temperature will top out at 40, according to the National Weather Service. But it will seem even cooler thanks to a northwest breeze of up to 8 mph.

That’s more than a 20-degree drop from the day before, when the high reached 61 in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The average high for the date is 42.

Skies will be mostly cloudy Thursday night with a low of 26.

On Friday, it will be sunny with a high of 42 and wind gusts at up to 22 mph.

Skies will be mostly clear Friday night with a low of 24.

The weekend forecast calls for a high of 45 under sunny skies Saturday and a low of 35 under clear skies Saturday night.

On Sunday it will be partly cloudy but much warmer with a high of 55.

A 50 percent chance of rain is possible Sunday night when the low will be 45.

Click here for the detailed local forecast.

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 6:37 AM with the headline "Increasing clouds, much colder temperatures Thursday."