Sunny and Cool through Thursday

Good morning folks! Sorry for the radio silence these past two days. The website hosting company we subscribe with went down Sunday afternoon and didn't come back online till late Monday evening. Good news is the weather hasn't changed much and will stay the same over the next five days, so you haven't missed anything. Monday morning was fairly cold across the area for mid November with Mt LeConte claiming the coldest spot at 20°F, while Mt Mitchell dipped to 21°F with a 1°F windchill! We'll warm up slightly today compared to Monday but a dry cold front passing through the region today will keep temps on the chilly side of normal. Sunshine rolls into Wednesday and sticks around through Saturday as high pressure to our north along the Central Appalachians reigns supreme through the work and school week. The high pressure system and upper level ridge begin to break down Sunday, allowing low level moisture to return and a second frontal passage on Monday is likely to bring us showers. Temps all the while hold to normal levels through Thursday, warming up to the upper 60's Friday and Saturday but they should cool back down to the low - mid 60's Sunday into early next week.

With sunny skies overhead Tuesday through Sunday morning, the gradual warm up is the only portion of the forecast worth mentioning. Windy conditions should calm down late tonight and a light breeze sets up on Wednesday, with calm conditions lingering the rest of the week. This is important mainly for the overnight hours as we look at radiational cooling impacts to overnight lows temps. Tuesday night temps dip down to the low - upper 20's but frost will be hard to come by with winds around 10 - 30mph above 3000'; 5 - 15mph below 3000'. However Wednesday night will feature clear skies, a dry airmass, and light winds regionwide and this will translate to the lower elevations dipping to the mid - upper 20's while the ridgelines settle into the mid 30's.

Temps Thursday warm to the low 60's in the valleys and dip back into the low - mid 30's Thursday night, warming to the upper 60's on Friday with overnight lows in the upper 30's.

This gradual warming trend continues into Saturday as we possibly hit 70°F in Franklin, Bryson City, and Sylva under more sunshine, followed by clear skies Saturday night and lows in the upper 30's - low 40's. Clouds build late in the day on Sunday, perhaps as late as 3 - 5pm and temps will hold to the mid 60's and with clouds building overnight into Monday, temps will settle into the mid - upper 40's.

We'll stop here and circle back on Thursday with a refreshed forecast but all signs point to continuing sunshine and a slow and steady warmup into Saturday. ENJOY!