Another day, another high rain chance on the board. Showers and thunderstorms will be likely today across the Tennessee Valley, off and on in waves, beginning this morning and carrying through the afternoon and evening. Some of the rainfall may be heavy, and a few afternoon storms could have brief gusty winds, but no organized severe storms are expected. With a few breaks of afternoon sunshine as storms become more scattered (after what looks like more in the way of widespread morning coverage), daytime highs climb into the mid 80s for most of us. However, any delay in sun breaks at your location could hold you in the lower 80s instead. Showers and storms hold on into the evening before calming down for the overnight. Partly cloudy skies will otherwise remain with overnight lows in the lower 70s.
Rain will be much more scattered and hit-or-miss for the daytime hours of Wednesday, but we expect a few showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening. More widespread rainfall arrives late overnight Wednesday night and into the first half of Thursday as remnants of a thunderstorm complex to the northwest move in. Those thunderstorms will likely weaken below severe limits before ever arriving, but isolated gusty winds can’t be ruled out. Beyond that, rain chances become much more isolated for Friday and the weekend, and even into early next week.
That will be driven by a big upper-level ridge of high pressure that will develop over a large part of the Ohio Valley to Southeast. That will put sinking motion over the area, which not only means decreasing rain chances, but means increasing temperatures. We go from highs in the 80s the next few days to highs in to low to maybe middle 90s from Friday on into at least early next week. And with dewpoints staying in the 70s, that will mean higher heat index values as well… as high as the lower 100s as we head into the weekend!
