Good evening. I hope your Tuesday has been a good one. We added 2 minutes and 4 seconds of daylight today. Some this morning and some this evening. We will eclipse 11 hours of daylight starting Friday, February 18th, 2022.
Okay so we are not talking snow. We are talking increasing clouds and rain moving in though. As of 6:00pm we will look for isolated rain showers to develop out over the foothills around Noon Wednesday. These should be short lived. We have trended high temperatures way down too though. This is due to a cold air damming issue developing in the lee of the mountains. I forecast 49° along I-40 to the Blue Ridge and low 50’s along the SC Boarder. Honestly the high temperature could land within 3° of those numbers. It is going to be a raw cold day though. Rain showers should continue though along the Blue Ridge Escarpment all through the afternoon and into the night.
Rainfall will become more widespread Wednesday Night but it is going to remain light. Into the day Thursday scattered showers will persist. It will be much warmer Thursday with southerly winds increasing ahead of the approaching front. The heavy rain is trending later Thursday Night. Rain will be heavy as the front moves through. Areas along the SC Boarder could also get some thunder. There isn’t enough thunderstorm fuel though to produce any severe weather. Winds will further increase behind the front though and a few gusts to 40mph are likely. Rainfall totals should be between .25 and 1.00 inch in most locations with areas near the Blue Ridge seeing up to 1.50 inches of rain.
All of that sets the stage for a great and beautiful weekend with high temps in the 50’s. The next system will organize to our west Monday and move through the area Tuesday. That too will be liquid, even in the mountains.
The chances for any winter weather remain near zero the next two weeks but the pattern could become colder again going into the first part of March.