Soggy Thursday and Friday
Good afternoon folks! Showers and thunderstorms are moving across the landscape this afternoon and we expect Thursday and Friday to be more active than Wednesday in terms of both coverage and rainfall amounts. An upper level trough is setting up to our west in the TN Valley and a weak front will migrate into our region, creating a nice setup for region wide showers and thunderstorms Thursday and Friday. This trough weakens and eventually flattens out during the day on Saturday, but not before another round of scattered showers with coverage and rainfall intensities noticeably less than Friday. By Sunday we'll be back to the classic August setup of mostly sunny skies, coupled with a few isolated thunderstorms after midday and temps pushing to the low - mid 80's.
It looks like Friday will pick up more rain than Thursday, but not by much as each day looks to pick up 0.50" of rain across all of SW NC. Locations along the escarpment could see totals around the 1.5" mark over the two day period as southeasterly flow ramps up Thursday, winding down sometime Saturday. Mostly cloudy skies will sit overhead both days and with an active shower setup, temps will only warm to the mid 60's - upper 70's depending upon elevation. Showers will wind down slightly Thursday night to isolated coverage but they'll likely maintain a scattered coverage Friday night as the models hint at a disturbance swinging through after sunset. Overnight lows will hold to the upper 50's - low 60's each night.
Keep your outdoor plans for Saturday and keep an eye to the sky as showers are likely after midday, with a mix of clouds and sun throughout the day that should bring temps to the 80°F mark across the valleys. The early - mid afternoon hours will be your best bet for shower development and coverage should drop off to almost nothing after sunset.
Sunday into Monday brings back mostly sunny skies, temps in the low - mid 80's across the valleys and the classic mid - late afternoon pop up thunderstorm or two. We'll stop here and circle back on Friday with a more detailed look at early next week.