A Dry Weekend; Rain Late Sunday Night
Good afternoon folks! The forecast from our previous post remains on track with light rain winding down Friday evening, setting the stage for clearing skies early Saturday and a mostly sunny start to the weekend. Clouds fill back in Sunday and light rain breaks out Sunday night, continuing into Monday with a short break in the action Monday afternoon. Showers pick back up Monday evening and peak in both coverage and intensity Tuesday, as a front passes through the region. Clouds and precip clear out Tuesday night, allowing sunshine to take over Wednesday and Thursday, with a possible rain/snow event Friday of next week. We want to caution those that are spreading weather models in regards to next Friday's possible event. Things are not set in stone, this event is still 6 - 8 days out and numerous things must occur for a widespread snow event to take place across SW NC. We will not forecast as to whether or not snow will occur until Monday or Tuesday to allow the models more time but also because we believe in providing an accurate forecast that does change from one day to the next; stepping off the soapbox now.
Saturday brings us mostly sunny skies and temps in the upper 50's for the valleys, which is roughly 3 - 5 degrees above normal, so be sure to enjoy this fair weather for early December. Clouds move in Saturday night and cap temps to the mid - upper 30's across the region.
High clouds stream overhead Sunday, lowering closer to sunset and temps will hold to the low - mid 50's across the lower elevations, while the ridgelines make a run at the mid 40's. Isolated showers are likely after midnight and once again temps will bottom out to the mid - upper 30's, ensuring all precip falls as rain.
We start the work and school week with scattered, light rain showers across the region and although coverage scales back during the early - mid afternoon hours, isolated showers are still a good bet. Temps will be able to push into the mid - upper 40's above 4500', while the valleys come close to the low 60's as southwesterly flow ramps up across the region. Coverage increases late Monday night ahead of the approaching cold front, with coverage becoming widespread and intensities heavy shortly before or after midday on Tuesday. Temps again push into the upper 40's - low 60's depending upon elevation, but only make it to the low 30's - upper 40's Wednesday as NW flow pushes cold air into the region. Speaking of colder air, its possible some light snow will fall along the TN line late Tuesday as precip winds down and cold air begins its push into the mountains.
Our next discussion will come out Sunday and we'll have more details on the timing of the frontal passage on Tuesday and perhaps a peak at the late week precip event everyone is talking about. Enjoy the sunshine Saturday!