Today is the Wettest Day of the Week
Good Morning Folks! Over the past 24 hours, ending 8/2/18 8:30am, rainfall amounts range from 1 - 4" depending upon location, with a good size swath of 3" plus readings near the TN/GA state line and again along the escarpment, however closer to Hendersonville than the Great Balsams. Since Tuesday morning the highest total thus far is out of Beaver Creek, near the town of Valley River, with a whopping 5.20", followed by Deep Creek with 5.07". Needless to say we are well on our way to meeting the forecasted amount of 5 - 7" across the region by early tomorrow morning, more so because today is expected to be the wettest day of the week!
Another 1 - 3" of rain is likely to fall across the region today through early tomorrow morning and although temps will be below normal, this amount of rain will certainly cause localized flooding along creeks and streams. We caution folks to not cross water at any point during the day, but especially past sunset as creeks tend to rise rapidly and limited visibility can cause incidents; remember, "turn around, don't drown"! The upper level low situated over TN will migrate slowly east throughout the day, alongside the upper level trough, but we'll still deal with an extremely soupy airmass and when coupled with rounds of energy moving over the region, expect widespread showers throughout the day. Temps will only make it to the low 60's along the ridgelines to the low - mid 70's in our deeper valleys, settling back into the upper 50's - mid 60's tonight.
The widespread rainfall will wind down early tomorrow as the bulk of the action slides to our east, however the above normal moisture levels will remain through the day tomorrow, allowing pop up showers past midday. With this in mind, don't count on a sunny and dry day to end the work week, but instead plan for passing clouds, intermittent showers and temps only rising to the mid 60's - upper 70's.
Pop up thunderstorms and showers remain a possibility Saturday, waning a bit Sunday and by the end of the weekend more sunshine is likely to poke through the passing cloud cover, allowing temps to rise to the upper 60's - low 80's depending upon elevation.
Early next week keeps pop up showers and thunderstorms alive, but this is no surprise as this is the typical setup for early August, however another front is likely by Wednesday with region wide showers a possibility. We will circle back with another update Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, but in the mean time, stay dry!