Dry-ish Wednesday; WET Fri & Sat

Good afternoon folks! All eyes are on Hurricane Laura as rapid intensification is expected over the next 24 hours before making landfall along or nearby the TX/LA state line. As of Tuesday afternoon the models push remnants of Laura just to our north Friday into Saturday and while (for the moment) our region looks to avoid high winds, we are likely to end up with a wet start to the weekend. Shower chances return Thursday but only scattered coverage is expected, increasing to widespread by Friday night, winding down later in the day on Saturday. Drier air is slated to move into the region Sunday, setting up a dry and cooler forecast Sunday into next Tuesday.

We recommend getting outside on Wednesday to enjoy the relatively dry day across SW NC, with high, thin clouds passing overhead, allowing temps to reach the mid 80's across the valley floor. Isolated showers and thunderstorms will develop but they should be confined to the ridgelines closer to the TN line as westerly flow reigns supreme. Temps overnight into Thursday will dip into the upper 50's - mid 60's depending upon elevation under partly cloudy skies; shower activity should end shortly after sunset.

Thursday brings moisture back to the region, setting up a classic August afternoon with scattered showers and thunderstorms and temps in the low 70's above 5000' and mid 80's across the lower elevations. Spotty showers and mostly cloudy skies keep temps to the low - mid 60's Thursday night.

Friday and Saturday will be our wettest days of the week and Friday afternoon/evening through Saturday late morning looks to be the window of time in which we pick up most of our expected rainfall. Totals over the two days will add up to 2 - 3.5" of rain depending upon location, but either way you slice it we are expecting a soggy end to the work week and start to the weekend. Shower coverage will begin to wane late Saturday afternoon and shower activity should wind down to a halt sometime after midnight. Temps will be held to the upper 60's - upper 70's both days and we may see a few spots hit the low 80's on Friday if showers develop later than expected.

We'll stop here and only mention Sunday should be able to salvage the weekend as a dry air mass brings us sunshine and very low rain chances. Our next discussion will come out Thursday afternoon.