NATCHEZ — Weather conditions look promising for a beautiful balloon race this weekend, the race’s meteorologist said Wednesday.

Despite a weak cold front that will pass through the region this afternoon, skies should remain sunny to partly cloudy with little or no chance of rain all weekend, Ernest Ethridge said.

Ethridge, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service who handles the daily weather briefings for balloon race pilots, said Friday’s morning media flight is forecast to have partly cloudy skies with 7- to 12-mph winds from the south/southeast. The flight is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Friday.

“The winds should be within the limits for flying,” Ethridge said.

In 2015, high winds forced the cancelation of all but the Friday media flight, which was moved to the Concordia Parish airport.

“The wind gets us as much as anything,” Ethridge said.

This weekend he said not only should winds be good on the ground, but the winds above the ground should help pilots guide and position balloons to the targets throughout the weekend.

“We should have good steering winds aloft which should make for a good competition,” Ethridge said.

Temperatures will be warmer than usual with highs hovering in the upper 80s and lows in the upper 60s throughout the weekend, Ethridge said.

Winds will drop down to less than 8 mph for the balloon glow at 7 p.m. Friday.

Winds should be good for flying Saturday morning, Ethridge said.

He believes winds should be less than 10 mph for the 7 a.m. flight and then increase to between 12 to 15 mph during the day, Ethridge said.

If the forecast for 5 to 10 mph winds holds, balloons should be able to fly on Sunday as well.