Showers Sat setup Sunshine Sun

Good afternoon folks! Hurricane Laura, now Tropical Storm Laura, was an historic storm with wind speeds tied for 5th all time for land-falling hurricanes (150mph), combined with catastrophic surge along the SW Louisiana coast and inland as far as 30 - 40 miles! Remnants of Laura will be sliding to our north early Saturday, close enough to bring us strong winds and when combined with high moisture levels and SW flow, we expect a health round of rain to fall Friday evening through Saturday late afternoon. Drier air moves in Sunday and will bring us mostly sunny skies with very low rain chances, however this will be short lived as moisture returns Monday, pushing rain chances slightly higher than what we'll experience on Friday. The models are still trying to get a handle on the middle of next week but for now it seems we'll deal with a fairly normal setup of pop up showers, a mixed bag of clouds and sun, continuing mugginess, and near normal temps.

Friday will be a muggy end to the work week as moisture ramps up even further than on Thursday, translating to scattered showers throughout the day. Coverage becomes widespread later Friday evening and will continue with heavy periods of rain into the morning hours on Saturday, followed by a slow and gradual decline in coverage as we march through the afternoon hours. Temps Friday will push into the low 70's - low 80's depending upon elevation, settle into the low - upper 60's Friday night and only rebound to the upper 60's - upper 70's on Saturday. Wind speeds pick up late Friday and peak Saturday morning around 30 - 40mph across the higher elevations, with a steady 10 - 15mph elsewhere across SW NC. Shower coverage wanes overnight into Sunday as drier air wraps into the region from the NW, bringing temps down into the mid 50's - low 60's depending upon elevation. All told we'll pick up 0.75 - 1" of rain over the 36 hour period across the interior of SW NC and along the SC state line, with the highest totals found along the TN line around 2 - 3".

Sunday looks gorgeous as mostly sunny skies sit overhead with winds calming down to a light breeze as we near midday. Temps will warm to the upper 60's above 5000', while the valleys make a run at the 80°F mark. Overnight lows dip into the mid 50's - low 60's once again and cloud cover will begin to increase during the pre dawn hours.

With mostly cloudy skies overhead and scattered showers and thunderstorms peppering the region on Monday, temps will once again hold to the upper 60's - upper 70's. We'll warm up a degree or two Tuesday and Wednesday as some sun mixes in with high clouds, but shower activity should keep us from hitting the mid 80's. We'll stop here and circle back on Saturday with a better look at the middle of next week.