Sunny this Wknd; Regionwide Rain Monday
Good afternoon folks! After the round of rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow we experienced this morning, we are now looking at a stretch of non winter weather Friday into the middle part of next week, possibly even into next weekend; good or bad news depending upon your preference. Passing clouds will make up most of the action on Friday, although we are likely to see sunshine before the end of the day and temps will be a touch warmer than normal. High pressure migrates into the area this weekend, settling north of the region Saturday and this will translate to mostly sunny skies Saturday and Sunday with temps continuing to hold to near normal levels. The models continue to show rain for our region Sunday night into Tuesday early morning and the question now is how much and will it linger longer than Tuesday morning. A brief round of sunny skies is likely for Wednesday but confidence drops considerably for late next week and we'll steer clear of this timeframe till our next discussion on Saturday.
Friday will be a welcomed change from today with temps warming to the upper 30's - low 50's, even with passing clouds overhead and as we mentioned above, we could have mostly sunny skies overhead by 3 - 4pm. Temps bottom out to the low - upper 20's across the region Friday under mostly clear skies.
Saturday and Sunday will keep the fair weather train going as high pressure migrates across the Central Appalachians, moving just north of the region Saturday night. Temps will climb to the low 40's - mid 50's depending upon elevation both days and its possible clouds develop before sunset on Sunday as moisture begins to creep into the region ahead of our next rainmaker. One thing to note is that overnight lows Saturday night will dip into the low 20's for the valleys, while the ridgelines hold to the upper 20's due to ideal radiational cooling conditions; little to no wind and clear skies (lower-ish dewpoints). Sunday night on the other hand brings rain back to the region, becoming widespread by the morning hours on Monday and this will cap overnight lows to the upper 30's - low 40's; sorry, no snow for the higher elevations.
Regionwide rainfall occurs Monday and it may extend into Tuesday but for now we are going with sunny skies for Tuesday, with temps hitting the mid 40's - mid 50's both days! I'll stop here and circle back on Saturday (late morning) with a new discussion, focusing on the upcoming rain event and a peak at late next week.