Another Late Week Rain Event
Good afternoon folks! The airmass in place right now features slightly drier than normal moisture levels, however over the next few days this will change as the high pressure to our north slides east, allowing southerly flow to ramp up by the middle of the week. This will transition our area away from mostly sunny skies to pop up showers and thunderstorms, eventually culminating in a region wide frontal passage on Friday that will deliver widespread showers to the mountains. This weekend, although not set in stone, should be muggy as scattered shower chances remain alive and temps will cool down somewhat by the passing front.
Tuesday brings us another sunny day across the mountains, with a few isolated showers developing along the highest ridgelines closer to sunset. Temps push into the mid 60's across the highest elevations to the low - mid 80's for the valleys, followed by overnight lows in the low - upper 50's; fog likely by sunrise Wednesday.
Wednesday will be similar to Tuesday in that we only expect isolated coverage, however the chance for thunderstorms will be in play for just about everywhere across SW NC as moisture levels begin to increase due to increasing southerly flow. With this in mind you'll notice an uptick in humidity levels beginning Tuesday, becoming downright muggy by Thursday. Temps Wednesday also reach the mid 60's - mid 80's, with overnight lows holding to the mid 50's - low 60's as partly cloudy skies sit overhead.
Thursday through Saturday will likely to be our wettest days of the week, with Friday in particular the wettest due to the passing front. Thursday is simply a slight addition to Wednesday, as we go from isolated thunderstorms to scattered thunderstorms, with a small silver lining that temps hold to the mid 60's - upper 70's; although the muggy factor may offset this cool down. Widespread showers and thunderstorms will sweep through Friday and at this point we are not exactly sure, but it looks like the late morning - early afternoon hours is a good bet for a passing line of thunderstorms. Temps hit the repeat button on Friday but cool down to the upper 50's - low 70's by the end of the weekend.
We will wait until Wednesday afternoon to release our next forecast discussion and focus on the timing of the frontal passage Friday and the upcoming weekend's chances for rain.