Dreary Thursday; Sunny this Weekend
Good afternoon folks! High clouds are lingering longer than expected and that will impact today's high temps, with highs in the upper 40's instead of the low - mid 50's as previously forecasted. A front will cross the region tonight and bring us passing clouds and an isolated rain/snow shower or two, but nothing that will impact travel Wednesday morning. The front lingers to our south on Wednesday and sunny skies take over, with highs in the mid 30's - upper 40's depending upon elevation. A round of precip moves in Wednesday night and with temps near or just below freezing, the initial round will fall as a mix of sleet, freezing rain, and rain but precip amounts will be light enough to not warrant any advisories from the NWS. Warmer air moves in Thursday morning and kicks over wintry precip to a cold rain with highs reaching the upper 30's - mid 40's, but either way you slice it, Thursday is looking rather gloomy with cloudy skies, chilly temps, and a cold rain by the mid morning hours. Precip should wind down overnight into Friday and there is a slight chance for high elevation snow on the backend, but once again precip amounts look so light it shouldn't be a concern. Passing clouds start out the day on Friday and we could end the day with sunny skies if the high pressure system moves into the area sooner than expected, however for now we are going with partly sunny skies and temps near normal. The weekend ahead will be sunny with high pressure and an upper level ridge in play, helping to push temps to the low - mid 50's across the lower elevations. Lastly, the models are pointing to another round of rain or snow early next week.
Wednesday starts out with some passing clouds and flurries ending along the TN line, however it will also be very windy around sunrise, with wind speeds gusting to 30 - 40mph across the higher elevations. These strong winds will calm down as the day moves along, with temps climbing to the mid 30's - upper 40's depending upon elevation. Temps dip into the mid - upper 20's Wednesday night before cloud cover builds in, which is where the chance for wintry precip comes into play early Thursday morning.
There is likely to be an hour or two of wintry precip across the region and depending upon location and elevation, you could see sleet, freezing rain, or a cold rain fall at your location. All of this will kick over to a cold rain by the mid morning hours on Thursday and light - moderate rainfall with scattered coverage will continue throughout the day on Thursday, helping to cap temps to the upper 30's - mid 40's depending upon elevation; all in all, a dreary day. Temps dip into the low - upper 30's Thursday night as precip winds down and some light, wet snow may fall above 5000' after midnight but not enough to accumulate.
Clouds linger in the overall flow on Friday and there is a small chance we see mostly sunny skies overhead before sunset, with highs reaching the upper 40's across the valleys. Overnight lows settle into the upper teens - upper 20's depending upon elevation with mostly clear skies a solid bet before midnight.
Saturday and Sunday feature mostly sunny skies and as the high pressure migrates east on Saturday, temps will go from the upper 40's - low 50's Saturday to the low - mid 50's by Sunday across the valleys. We'll stop here and circle back on Thursday with some more detail on the next round of precip moving in early next week.