Beautiful Start then More Rain – Monday 4:10 p.m.

It was a beautiful start to the work week out there today. April begins with mostly sunny skies and temperatures at 3 pm are in the low to mid 70s. At the surface, we are still dealing with two cold fronts. The first one stretches from southern Mississippi back to the west just south of the I-85 corridor. Visible satellite indicates clearing skies just to the north of the front. The second front is located just to the north of the forecast area. The front stretches across north Mississippi to the Tennessee Valley to east Tennessee. This front will move through the forecast area tonight but with dry air in place no precipitation is expected.

Cold air advection will continue into the overnight hours as the second front pushes through the area. Skies will remain mostly clear as surface high pressure moves in. Shortwave troughs will eject ahead of the closed low on Wednesday and the cold front will begin to slowly push northward as a warm front. Models indicate that this front should stay to the south of the area. However, overrunning precipitation will begin Wednesday across the southwest and spread northeastwards.

Surface high pressure will be located to the northeast with easterly flow and a wedge in place across the area. This wedge will be key to the temperature forecast and our chance for thunderstorms. Rain chances will begin decreasing on Friday as the surface low tracks along the eastern seaboard. Upper level heights will rise and surface high pressure will move into the area late in the week. Southerly flow will return late in the weekend as the surface high pushes to the east. Models have been advertising more zonal flow over the weekend and into early next week. Therefore, expect dry conditions over the weekend with temperatures near seasonal averages.

Daniel Sparkman
dsparkman@wvuatv.com
WVUA Weather