Widespread Rain returns Late Monday

Good afternoon folks! After several rounds of rain things are calming down for a bit, but we'll deal with another round of precip late Saturday afternoon and evening, allowing snow to fall across the higher elevations. Dry and sunny conditions move in Sunday and this will be short lived with clouds filling in late Sunday night ahead of the incoming rain expected to arrive midday Monday. Showers become widespread before midnight and carry over into Tuesday, with heavy rain and possible thunderstorms Tuesday early afternoon, clearing out Tuesday evening. A stretch of dry days follow, with temps below normal Wednesday returning to normal by the end of next week.

We picked up anywhere from 0.75 - 1.5" of rain since Thursday night across a vast majority of SW NC, with Lake Toxaway in the lead at 1.77", followed by Highlands in a close second at 1.62"; another tenth of an inch likely before precip ends late Saturday night. Light snow will begin to fall across the highest ridgelines this afternoon and we may even see a few snowflakes in the valley, but light accumulations of 1 - 2" should be confined to above 5000'.

Sunshine returns Sunday and allows temps to reach the low 40's along the ridgelines and low 50's for the valleys. NW winds around 10 - 20mph region wide will keep a slight chill to the air and gust up to 35mph are likely above 4500'. Temps bottom out to the mid 30's - low 40's Sunday night as clouds fill in across the region.

Monday will start the work week on a dry note but clouds will fill in and drop before the mid morning hours, with rain expected to break out sometime around noon. Coverage expands closer to sunset and becomes widespread overnight, with heavy rain likely and maybe a thunderstorm or two around the early afternoon hours Tuesday. Temps go from the upper 40's - upper 50's Monday to the mid 40's - low 50's Tuesday. Showers wind down Tuesday night and skies begin to clear out before sunrise on Tuesday.

Temps cool down even further to the upper 20's - low 40's depending upon elevation Wednesday with sunny skies overhead. Eventually temps moderate to the mid 40's - low 50's by Friday as dry weather continues into late next week. We'll circle back on Monday morning with slightly more detail on the upcoming rain event.