Upper 80's by Late Week; Sunny Sunday
Good afternoon folks! It's mid afternoon on Tuesday and we are not experiencing the widespread setup we thought would occur, but showers are plentiful across the area with most of the action occurring across the Southern Highlands Plateau. On Wednesday the low pressure system currently migrating across Georgia will move to the northeast, eventually turning up the NC coastline and this will translate to a change from easterly to northerly flow across the region. Scattered showers will develop once again Wednesday, with coverage holding to scattered levels both Thursday and Friday but with a bit more sunshine and an uptick in temps to the upper 80's by Friday. The weekend features a late evening frontal passage that will usher in drier air for Sunday with a sunny end to the weekend. The models are pointing to a setup that favors more clouds and showers over sunshine for early next week as an upper level trough interacts with the region.
Wednesday will be similar to Tuesday in that scattered showers will once again develop across the region, first along the highest peaks across the Great Balsams, Cowee Mountains, and just off the escarpment near Brevard due to a change to northerly flow. Temps will be able to push into the low 80's with slightly less cloud cover than Tuesday and overnight lows settle into the upper 50's - mid 60's depending upon elevation, with isolated showers fizzling out before midnight.
Thursday through Saturday features a slow uptick in temps as we reach the low 70's - mid 80's on Thursday, peaking to the mid 70's - upper 80's by Saturday. Moisture levels will remain higher than normal and this translates into a muggy setup for the lower elevations as heat indices push into the low 90's Friday. Scattered pop up showers develop Thursday with a mixed bag of sun and clouds, however Friday and Saturday each start out the day with full sunshine and are likely to end the day with scattered thunderstorms. If you have plans to be outside, especially if you want sunshine overhead, we recommend starting sooner than later as clouds will fill in by the early - mid afternoon hours.
Sunday is looking gorgeous with full sunshine, temps in the upper 80's and a very low chance for showers as drier air pours into the region after the front exits late Saturday night. We'll stop here and circle back Thursday, focusing on the weekend and hopefully providing more details for early next week.