Fall Weather taking a hold on Western Carolinas. First frost likely next week

Good Saturday morning to everyone,

We hope your weekend is off to a good start. You have probably noticed this week a definite cooldown as we continue dealing with the recovery from Helene. Chilly nights and warm days has been the norm this week. We have another blast of autumn chill coming in during the next seven days.

You can see the beginning of that on the water vapor as the flow is dropping east-southeast.

A massive trough will again set up across New England next week bringing deep northwest flow into the Carolinas. The dry weather will continue and we will have an increase of winds on Monday. Those winds could get strong enough (gusts to 30 mph) to where any vulnerable trees and limbs from Helene could be at risk of falling, keep that in mind if you are involved in cleanup in the mountains and escarpment regions.

Large area of high pressure will drop down late Tuesday and into Wednesday dumping the coldest air of the autumn season into the southeast. Afternoon high temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday will struggle to reach 60 degrees in the foothills, 50’s in the mountains.

This will set the stage for two chilly mornings outside the mountains where a frost will be possible. Our mountain neighbors will see its first freeze of the season. Here’s a look at where the frost line (blue) and freeze line (pink) may set up on Wednesday morning…

Thursday morning will be a tad colder as the frost line may get close to the Charlotte Metro area and the freeze line could sneak into northwest sections of Burke, Caldwell, McDowell, Polk and Rutherford Counties…

Climatology suggests the frost threat for next week is coming generally within a week of the normal date for the first frost.

Please share the word on this as some folks, especially our mountain neighbors are still without utilities at this time.