Drying Out; Near 90°F this Weekend
Good morning folks! Smoke from the western wildfires continues to filter into the region and we'll experience another hazy day as westerly flow sets up shop across the Carolinas, ushering in smoke from the western states. Smoke/hazy conditions aside, we will begin our decline in shower coverage today (Wednesday) with sunny skies taking over today through Sunday. A cold front sweeps the region today and ushers in lower dewpoints for the area, setting the stage for Thursday to be our Weather Pick of the Week. High pressure to our north will migrate southeast over the course of the week, eventually breaking down as we enter the weekend but not before southerly flow returns to the area sometime Friday/Saturday. Even though we expect mostly sunny skies today through Sunday, isolated showers and thunderstorms will develop each afternoon in typical late July fashion, fizzling out each evening with partly cloudy skies overhead. As we see an increase in sunshine from the upper level ridge and high pressure system, we will experience an uptick in temps, going from the mid 80's today to the upper 80's this weekend, flirting with the 90°F mark in the more urbanized/densely paved downtowns; Franklin, Bryson City, Sylva.
We'll kick off the timeline on Thursday with mostly sunny skies starting the day for elevations above 3000', while the valleys slowly wake up under another round of fog. Temps warm to the mid - upper 80's across the lower elevations and isolated showers/thunderstorms will develop between 3 - 6pm, fizzling out by the late evening hours. Overnight lows will dip into the mid 50's - low 60's depending upon elevation, under partly cloudy skies.
Friday through Sunday feature much of the same weather, foggy starts in the valleys, mostly sunny skies before 3 - 4pm and then isolated showers/thunderstorms popping up during the mid - late afternoon hours. Temps will push into the upper 80's Friday and hold to this level through the weekend, however there is a better chance to hit the 90°F mark Saturday and Sunday due to increasing sunshine and southerly flow. The higher elevations above 5000' will sit comfortably in the low - mid 70's if you need to escape the heat. Overnight lows settle into the upper 50's - mid 60's each night (depending upon elevation) under mostly clear skies.
Early next week is showing signs of increasing shower activity, with scattered showers developing Monday and possibly regionwide rainfall Tuesday as a front sweeps the region. We'll stop here and circle back on Friday with more details for early next week. ENJOY!