Skies will continue to gradually but steadily clear as we head into the overnight. Breezy north to northeast winds will continue as well, sustained around 10 mph and gusting as high as 15 to 20 mph at times. That will bring in cooler and drier air, with overnight lows down into the low to mid 50s areawide. A few of our sheltered valley areas could certainly see the upper 40s. We’re partly cloudy for the first half of Thursday with increasing sunshine through the day. The breezy northeast winds will continue though. Daytime highs look to climb into the mid 70s. We’re once again into the low to mid 50s for Thursday night, but with a little more of an easterly wind, maybe a couple degrees milder than tonight.
Rain chances are off the board locally here in our immediate part of the Tennessee Valley for at least the next seven days. We expect partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies all the way through the middle of next week. Daytime highs will go from the mid 70s on Thursday and Friday back to the low to mid 80s heading into next week. It’s the overnight lows that will get your attention. Friday night and Saturday night in particular look to range from as low as the mid to upper 40s in our southern Tennessee counties to the upper 40s to lower 50s in north Alabama and northeast Mississippi. If you have any outdoor activities planned this weekend, weather looks great with seasonably warm but comfortable temperatures, low humidity, and mostly sunny skies!
Unfortunately, developing drought conditions across the area will likely worsen over the next couple of weeks as we look to stay dry with very little in the way of meaningful rain chances through at least mid month. It doesn’t mean we won’t see absolutely any rain at all between now and then, but we don’t see anything significant or meaningful in the immediate future. Temperatures also look to stay warm during this period. Keep in mind when viewing the temperature outlooks above though, that you have to view them through the lens of what is “normal” based on climatology for this time of year. For mid October, a “normal” high would be the mid 70s and a “normal” low would be the low 50s. If we’re even slightly warmer than that, we are fully and correctly verifying the forecasts above. Those colors on the maps above represent the confidence and/or probability of being some amount below or above average in either temperatures or precipitation. They don’t directly show how much below or above average, although it’s easier to have a higher probability if you’re well below/above the average value. Those reds on the temperature outlook maps above do NOT mean 90s or 100s or coming!
