Wet Thur/Fri; Sunny this Weekend!
Good morning folks! Looks like the models have come to an agreement and we can now raise our confidence level for the weekend, with sunny skies expected Saturday through Monday! Before we can enjoy the dry and sunny weather, we'll first deal with two days of wet weather as a front brings regionwide rainfall to WNC Thursday and Friday. The front will move east of the area late Friday and set the stage for high pressure to take over Saturday into Sunday, followed by a slow and steady return to muggy conditions next week, but slow enough to keep mostly sunny skies overhead on Monday. Temps will remain warm today (Wednesday) and cool down a degree or three Thursday as showers pepper the region, dropping another degree or two on Friday due to cloudy skies and persistent rainfall. We'll return to the mid 80's across the lower elevations by Independence Day (Sunday) and eventually hit the upper 80's around the middle of next week, in tandem with an increase in moisture levels. Rainfall totals should be fairly uniform across SW NC with 0.75 - 1.5" falling on Thursday and another 1 - 1.5" falling on Friday.
We'll start the timeline on Thursday and showers will develop earlier than normal, likely before noon with scattered coverage, expanding to widespread/regionwide by the late afternoon - early evening hours. Widespread rain will continue throughout the night into Friday morning and there may be a few hours around 11am where rainfall intensities pick up as the front approaches the region from the west. Temps Thursday warm to the upper 60's - low 80's depending upon elevation and although it will be cooler, it will be very muggy outside. Temps bottom out to the upper 50's - mid 60's depending upon elevation overnight into Friday, only rebounding to the mid 60's above 5500' and right around 80°F for the lower elevations. The front will push east of the region by sunset and drying occurs shortly thereafter, with a noticeable and welcomed change from muggy to dry conditions and fast enough to open up the windows and enjoy the cool breeze overnight into Saturday; temps settle into the low - upper 50's.
Saturday through Monday will be dry and sunny, with little to no cloud cover Saturday and Sunday, followed by mostly sunny skies on Monday. Temps hold to the mid 60's - low 80's Saturday, warming slightly to the upper 60's - mid 80's for both Independence Day and Monday. Overnight lows will be a treat as they dip into the upper 40's Saturday and Sunday nights above 4500', while the valleys enjoy temps in the low - mid 50's; all under clear skies.
Moisture returns to the region Tuesday and temps push into the upper 80's, which is somewhat normal for early July. Isolated pop up showers also return Tuesday, with coverage possibly expanding as we move through next week. We'll stop here and circle back on Friday but we do not expect the forecast to change for the weekend, instead we hope to add more detail to timeline for early next week. ENJOY!