Chilly, rainy Thursday

Today will be a rather chilly, rainy day. Waves of low pressure are riding up near the coast, and a lot of upper level dynamics are plunging in from the northwest. The result will be rainy conditions and chilly temps....highs only in the low to mid 50s for most.

This will be a decent rain event. The heaviest rain will likely be around roughly I-95 and points east, where over an inch could fall. For the I-85 corridor, I am thinking totals of around a half inch or so.

Colder air will begin blowing in here tomorrow, and it will be a breezy day overall. As some very cold temperatures aloft move overhead, a few isolated showers will be possible, and because the temps aloft are so cold, I wouldn't rule out a few Piedmont locations seeing a few sleet pellets.

Up in the mountains, the first upslope snow event of the season will begin tonight and wind down by Saturday. Many of the favored areas could see at least a couple of inches, and some areas that find themselves in the sweet spot might see 6 or 8 inches.

Weekend cold snap...

Lows by Saturday morning will be in the low to mid 30s and lows Sunday morning will likely be in the mid to upper 20s. Highs Saturday will likely struggle to hit 50 degrees in a number of Piedmont locations, with highs in the 50s and full sun Sunday.

We will see a fairly dramatic warm-up as we get into next work week. Highs by Tuesday and Wednesday will warm to around 70 or so.

Tomas...

Tomas is a tropical storm again this morning, and the system has a good chance of ramping back up to hurricane intensity. Tomas will pass just east of Jamaica and then head toward western Haiti and eastern Cuba. The system will then head through the Bahamas and out to sea in the Atlantic.