Whew, it was a COLD start to the day across the Tennessee Valley! We dropped down into the upper teens and lower 20s. We will not get very warm this afternoon, with highs just in the low to mid 40s. Keep your warm weather gear handy for the rest of today and tonight. Lows tonight will get down into the mid 20s. The good news? We stay dry and mainly sunny until a few clouds move in overnight, but no rain to talk about within the next few days. We’ll gradually warm back up into the low to mid 50s by Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.
Well hopefully you are well aware already, but the Christmas holiday begins this weekend! Guess what also begins this weekend? Rain from our next approaching weather system. I will say, there is not good model agreement on the specifics of the system like coverage and timing, but basically all long-range weather models have a rain-making low pressure system swooping through by at least Christmas Eve. At this time, things are just looking gloomy, not stormy. Also important to note, we will have temps in the 50s, so don’t even go there (: I’ve included the GFS and Euro models to show the disagreements. The GFS is spottier and a little drier for the weekend, while the Euro depicts more rain falling across the area. My takeaway from this (which should probably be yours too) is that rain showers are possible the 23rd, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Nothing more, and nothing less at this time. We’ll know more specifics once we get into a closer range.
Above are images of the GFS model for this weekend, and below are images of the Euro model for this weekend.
Yes, Christmas may be looking gloomy, but it could be worse. Rain showers likely won’t put too much of a damper on travel across the region. It may not look or feel like Christmas on Christmas Day weather-wise, but a strong Christmas spirit is all about being surrounded by family and loved ones. We’ll keep you updated on the holiday forecast in the coming days.