Flurries Tuesday; Near 70°F Thursday
Good afternoon folks! We are not playing a April's fool joke today with the headline mentioning snow but there is nothing to worry about as our part of the area will only see passing snow showers at best, with flurries the most likely setup. We are talking about Tuesday morning and this will all push to the east rather quickly, with full sunshine overhead by sunset and then the warming trend begins with temps returning to normal by Thursday. Showers look to sweep the region Thursday night and they'll be light and quick moving with precip ending by late afternoon Friday. Sunshine returns for the weekend and we'll make a run at the upper 70's by Saturday or Sunday!
Tonight temps settle into the mid 20's along the ridgelines and low 30's for the valleys, with clouds increasing as the evening moves along. Mostly cloudy skies will be overhead before midnight and light snow or flurries are possible anywhere from 3am - 9am Tuesday morning, with the best chance for passing snow showers along and south of the SC state line. This is due to the low pressure system riding just far enough off the eastern coastline to spread precip back into the SW NC mountains but not close enough to cause anything more than a passing snow shower or flurries. Oddly enough, our neighbors in the Upstate or the Piedmont stand a decent chance at picking up accumulations on elevated surfaces, but with all the models pointing to less than an inch we expect no travel issues if you have plans to drive out of the area tomorrow morning. Beyond the April snowfall excitement, it will be a chilly day Tuesday with temps only making it to the upper 30's - low 50's depending upon elevation, under clearing skies and alongside westerly winds around 10 - 15mph. Temps Tuesday night dip into the upper 20's - low 30's for the valleys, while the ridgelines deal with temps in the low - mid 30's as a weak radiational cooling event plays out under clear skies and diminishing winds.
Wednesday and Thursday look sunny, although some late day clouds are possible for Cashiers, Highlands and Lake Toxaway as southwesterly flow ahead of the approaching cold front brings additional moisture to the region. Temps soar to the low - mid 50's along the ridgelines and hit the upper 60's - low 70's throughout the valleys. Overnight lows settle into the upper 30's - low 40's Wednesday night but only dip to the upper 40's - low 50's Thursday night as showers traverse the region.
We expect showers to clear out by mid - late Friday and then clearing skies take over Friday night, setting up a gorgeous weekend with temps climbing to the upper 70's! We'll discuss the upcoming rain event and warm weekend in our next discussion, which is scheduled to come out Wednesday afternoon.