Lead Forecaster Daniel Crawley
Good Thursday to everyone, we are looking at nice weather currently but some big changes are coming and will impact the Memorial Day Weekend.
Looking below at the water vapor loop you can see a general weakness in the height pattern across the Southeast US. A shortwave is digging south today while some Atlantic moisture builds off the southeast coastline.
The shortwave energy will be the genesis of a larger and stronger upper low tomorrow across the Deep South. Surface low pressure will slowly organize off the South Carolina and Georgia coastline as a result of the increased upper energy.
By Friday night and Saturday the upper low will help rotate moisture to the north west and inland across the Carolinas. The end result is going to be a wet weekend for both Carolinas.
As of right now it appears that the Western Carolinas will get some widespread rainfall with the highest amounts along the Blue Ridge Escarpment and along the I-40 corridor going east of us.
Rainfall amounts of at least 1 inch is expected for all and some locations with multiple rounds of heavier rain could see amounts in the 2-3 inch range.
The other big story is the cold air that will be associated. Cold, dry air in place will be overrun by moisture from the Atlantic, that will make things quite chilly for the end of May.
Low 80’s are the expected highs this time of the year. Values on Saturday and Sunday may exceed 20 degrees below norms.
Any outdoor plans for the weekend should include a Plan-B to take it indoors. And it’s definitely not going to be a pool or lakeside type weekend with the cold temps.