Summertime Conditions this Week
Good morning folks! We kick off a new work and school week (for some, WCU is done) today and its going to be a dry-ish week, with temps warming to the mid 80's by week's end. If you have a garden or manage a farm, watering will be key this week as we only see potential for roughly 0.25 - 0.50" of rain today through Saturday! Isolated pop up showers will develop today, thunderstorms on Tuesday, stepping down to isolated showers on Wednesday. Full sunshine returns on Wednesday for most of the region (minus where pop up showers develop) and this fair weather will extend into Saturday, with temps warming from the mid - upper 70's today (Monday) to the mid 80's by Friday across the lower elevations. If you need to escape the heat, head on up to your favorite ridgeline above 5500', where temps will climb to the upper 60's by Friday.
Monday through Wednesday will be our best (and only) window for rain and Tuesday in particular will be the wettest day of the week, but its likely some locations will not experience any rain during this three day window as coverage only peaks to scattered levels on Tuesday. The best chance for rain will be along the highest ridgelines and nearby coves and hollers; think summertime shower development where terrain and differential heating is the main trigger for shower development. Temps warm to the mid - upper 70's today (Monday) and Tuesday across the valleys, pushing to the upper 70's - low 80's by Wednesday. Overnight lows will settle into the upper 40's - mid 50's each night, under partly cloudy skies as showers fizzle out during the evening hours.
Thursday through Saturday will be our first true warmup of the season, with temps climbing from the upper 70's - low 80's on Thursday to the mid 80's on Friday and Saturday, possibly hitting the upper 80's for the deeper valleys in Cherokee, Graham, Swain, and Macon counties. The ridgelines will warm up accordingly, hitting the upper 60's by week's end, with overnight lows in the 40's through Thursday night, but eventually leveling out to the low - mid 50's by the weekend; perfect high elevation camping weather!
We'll stop here and circle back on Wednesday. Take homes for today's discussion; dry and warming up all week, with mid 80's by Friday.