A Sunny and Warm Christmas
Good evening folks! Showers continue overnight into Monday and wind down Monday evening for our region, with clearing skies developing closer to sunrise on Tuesday. Christmas Eve features sunny skies, while Christmas Day offers up passing high clouds and both days raise temps 12 - 14 degrees above normal for late December! Dry weather should extend into Friday, although cloud cover slowly increases through the day on Thursday, resulting in cloudy skies by Friday. Temps remain well above normal through the end of next week, with Thursday and Friday a degree or two cooler than Christmas Day due to increasing cloud cover. Our next chance for rain will be Saturday, but the details are still very fuzzy with our only guarantee being that any precip that falls will fall as rain.
We kick off the holiday week with widespread showers across the region moving into the area from the south. Most, if not all of the rain, will fall as light rain as the bulk of the action is off to our south and east. We expect an inch of rain to fall from Saturday night into Monday evening, with an inch and a half possible along the N GA and SC state lines. Temps Monday make it to the mid 40's - low 50's depending upon elevation, which is not too far from normal, although the constant rain will make for a chilly day. Temps bottom out to the upper 30's - low 40's across the region as showers wind down during the evening hours, followed by clearing skies closer to sunrise.
Sunshine moves in early in the morning Christmas Eve, followed by some high clouds passing overhead on Christmas Day. Temps will soar to the mid - upper 60's Tuesday and mid 60's Wednesday, cooling off slightly to the low 60's Thursday and Friday. Clouds thicken slowly as the day moves along Thursday and cloudy skies are a good bet Friday. Overnight lows Christmas Eve and Christmas night settle into the upper 30's - low 40's across the region, warming to the low - mid 40's Thursday and Friday nights due to increasing cloud cover.
We'll stop here and circle back Thursday morning, with more detail on the upcoming rain event beginning Saturday. Happy Holidays!