After a stormy Saturday across the Tennessee Valley, we are back to quiet weather today. The weather system that brought the rain and storms to the area yesterday is shifting away, and we are returning to mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies on this Sunday. Daytime highs across the region will be in the low to mid 80s. With mainly clear skies tonight, overnight lows drop into the lower half of the 60s.
A few clouds will be possible for the next few days, but we expect to see much more sunshine and blue sky than cloud cover. The storm track will be well off to the north of our area into the Plains to Great Lakes as a ridge of high pressure in the upper-levels temporarily builds in across the Southeast. This means quiet and dry weather through at least Tuesday, and even most of Wednesday looks dry, although an isolated thundershower may sneak into parts of the area as a frontal system gradually sags southeastward toward us and southerly low-level winds bring moisture back into the are from the Gulf of Mexico.
That aforementioned upper-level ridge will also mean warm temperatures for the next few days, with daytime highs in the mid to eventually upper 80s all the way through Wednesday. Especially on Tuesday, it’s very possible a few locations on the Alabama / Mississippi side of the Tennessee state line may briefly hit 90 degrees. That disturbance to our northwest on Wednesday starts sinking into the area Wednesday night and Thursday as the upper ridge weakens and shifts back westward into the Southern Plains with time. That means the chance for showers and thunderstorms will increase, beginning in scattered fashion overnight Wednesday night, and then becoming a bit more widespread Thursday into Friday. We don’t see any clear signs of a severe storm threat at this time, but we’re heading into the time of year when there can be a stray severe thunderstorm warning or two ANY afternoon for a storm that has gusty winds or small hail. The chance for scattered storms and high temps in the 80s looks to continue right on into the weekend ahead, and there are even early indications that we may start to head into a pattern more favorable for thunderstorm complexes moving in from the northwest beginning late in the upcoming weekend and heading into that following week. That’s still a ways out there though; so, we’ll iron out the forecast details as we get closer!
