Cashiers is Back Online; Southerly Flow Continues

Good morning folks! I'm excited to announce a reader of Local Yokel Weather reached out and fully funded the Cashiers station replacement and today we swapped out the old station for the new! Cashiers is now back online! This has been some time in the making and I am very grateful for the individual who contributed the funding to replace the aging station, last installed in February of 2013. If you are interested in supporting a station in your neck of the woods or perhaps elsewhere, reach out to me at pj@mtnwx.com.

Back to the weather. Not much has changed among the models and we expect the current setup to continue well into next week, with southerly flow transition to southeasterly flow at times but we'll keep a steady flow of moisture moving across SW NC today (Thursday) into Tues/Wed of next week. This will lead to more cloud cover than sunshine but there will be periods of sun, which will only cause more showers to develop as the soupy airmass lingers across the Southeast. Temps will run above normal but with the combination of cloud cover and shower activity, it will be warm not hot, as temps run into the upper 70's - low 80's starting Saturday, extending into the middle of next week. Today and Friday will be near normal due to thick cloud cover and waves of upper level disturbances swinging through the area, stirring up shower activity both days. The highest totals around 1 - 2" will be found along the Highlands Plateau and these totals extend from Thursday to Tuesday. Elsewhere across SW NC, we'll pick up a 0.25 - 0.50" of rain, perhaps a touch less for the northern section of Swain and Haywood counties.

We'll start the timeline on Friday with temps only reaching the low 60's above 5500', while the valleys sit comfortably in the mid 70's. Scattered showers and a few thunderstorms will play out across the area throughout the day, with peak coverage between 1 - 5pm, but again we only expect passing showers, nothing widespread.

If you're heading to the WCU football game on Saturday (2:30pm kickoff) bring a rain jacket or perhaps a pop up tent to run under when the passing showers develop shortly after midday. Most of the tailgate window (9a - 2p) will be under mostly cloudy skies and a light round of drizzle or two, with dense fog likely on campus as we start the day in the low 60's, warming to the low 80's shortly before kickoff. Temps drop to the mid 50's - low 60's once again Saturday night, under mostly cloudy skies, alongside isolated showers.

Sunday through Tuesday keeps the pattern alive with scattered showers developing each afternoon, under mixed bag of sun and clouds with temps warming to the mid 60's - low 80's depending upon elevation. If you are mapping the color change, we are still 2 - 3 weeks away from peak color season above 5000'.

We'll circle back Saturday morning around 10am. ENJOY!