Friday afternoon...

It is quite breezy out there this afternoon. Sustained winds across much of the Piedmont are in the 15-30mph range with gusts to 30-40mph. Winds are even higher in the mountains with gusts over 60mph at times.

The band of rain overperformed a bit when you got up around the Triad to the VA border region. The Triad itself received about a half inch, but some spots a little north of there got closer to an inch.

In the southern Piedmont and much of the Triangle region, click here, then come back for the rest of the discussion.

Amounts were generally less than a tenth of an inch. Not what we needed, and nothing to even put a small chink in the drought's armor.

The weekend looks quiet with sunshine tomorrow and clouds rolling in Sunday.

The next system arrives later Monday and Monday evening. Another round of showers, and maybe a few storms, will arrive then. For the spots that missed out on any decent rain, I think the odds are that a little more rain will fall, but with the primary surface low tracking well north once again, don't look for drought-denting rains. We will watch the severe potential too....a little more instability to work with, plus a more favorable time of day for storms.

It was indeed an active severe weather day yesterday across the MS and TN Valley. Here is the compilation of storm reports.

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Hold on to your hats!

Here is today's edition of the Carolina Weather Video. Lots of wind today, quiet this weekend, and the next system later Monday.

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Severe weather...

Looks like severe weather is about to start exploding over parts of eastern Arkansas, northern Mississippi, and western Tennessee. In that general area, the CAPE has gotten up over 1500 J/kg and the helicity is over 400 m2/s2.

A tornado watch will be issued shortly. In those areas mentioned especially, a few violent tornadoes are possible.

Later this evening and tonight, the activity will congeal into a squall line and move eastward through the Deep South. Places such as Nashville, Huntsville, Birmingham, Atlanta, Montgomery, and Meridian could see some damaging winds along that line of storms as well as some brief tornadoes embedded within the line.

Here is a frame from the RPM model valid at 2:30am CST.

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Next system gearing up...

Here is today's edition of the Carolina Weather Video. I focus on the next two systems that will impact a lot of real estate in coming days. A significant severe weather outbreak is likely in the Lower Mississippi Valley and Tennessee Valley today and tonight. Give it a look....

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Quiet, cool Wednesday...two formidable systems on the way

Here is today's edition of the Carolina Weather Video. A couple of dynamic, Spring-like systems on the way over the next 6 days. Give it a look....



A quiet and cool Wednesday is unfolding around the region with highs in the low to mid 50s and a partly cloudy sky.

A couple of Spring-like storm systems will roll through the eastern US over the next 5 or 6 days. The first will likely produce a significant severe weather outbreak in the Lower MS Valley tomorrow and tomorrow night. A few strong tornadoes are possible there. Also, flooding is a concern for parts of the OH Valley especially.

We will likely see some showers roll into the Carolinas later tomorrow, especially from roughly I-40 northward. But the core of the system moves through Friday morning. Showers and a few storms are possible then....maybe a strong storm or two as well.

The next system moves in around Monday or Monday night. That one actually looks stronger than the first one, so we will watch it closely.

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Much cooler...

Some pretty interesting weather around the region over the next week or so. Chillier air settling in now, and a couple of potent storm systems on tap. Also, I take a look at some general ideas on March.



It was fun to watch the temps this morning as a cold front dropped slowly southward. A 20 degree temp gradient was common along the front, and most sited lost that 15-20 degrees within an hour or so of the frontal passage.

Many NC spots have seen their daily highs already today, but temps will rebound some over morning lows this afternoon. The exception to all of that is when you get very close to SC and the front was last to push in.

We will remain fairly cool through mid-week.

Spring pattern...

Two formidable storm systems will impact the southern US over the next week. One will produce rain and storms Thursday through Friday, and the next one firing things off Monday and Tuesday.

Thursday and Thursday night still have the looks of a significant severe weather episode over parts of the Lower MS Valley, TN, Valley, and Ozarks. Some storms are even possible in the Carolinas by Friday morning.

The system Monday into Tuesday looks much the same.

Thereafter?

Lots of cold air will be meandering around North America as we get into March....we will see how that trends in coming days.

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More record warmth today...

Here is today's edition of the Carolina Weather Video. More record warmth today, but some changes on the way...



Another day today where record highs will be challenged across the region. The record highs in Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, and GSP all could be tied or broken.

The fire danger remains high as well with very dry ground conditions and breezy conditions.

I mentioned a while back on some editions of the video that it appeared the storm track would begin to get more active around here near the last week of the month. That does indeed look to be the case.

One system (really just a cold front) will move through tonight. A few loose showers are possible, but most will remain dry.

Another system will arrive Thursday night into Friday. The rain chances look better with that one. Also, severe weather is looking like a possibility in parts of the Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys with that one.

Finally, another system will likely pull in around the beginning of next week.

Regarding temps, highs will only be in the low to mid 50s for much of the Piedmont Wednesday, then warming before our Friday system and cooling down again behind it.

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Wildfire weather...

Had a busy day yesterday......sure was a nice day though. I was just looking back at some of the observations from yesterday. At 4pm, the Charlotte airport had a temperature of 69 with a dewpoint of 0....that made the relative humidity 6% . I don't think I have experienced humidities that low around here before.

Obviously, the drought conditions combined with the exceptionally low humidities and some wind led to lots of wild fire issues. Those problems continue this morning in many spots, but the dewpoints will be significantly higher today, it won't be as windy, and cooler temps will combine with the higher dewpoints to make humidity levels much higher. So, hopefully that will aid in the fire fighting efforts.

Enjoy your Sunday....

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