Weather

It’s been very dry lately with the lack of rain, and the heat has slowly turned itself up over recent weeks. That is going to culminate in a couple record high days possible between now and Saturday, with a little rain Thursday night and better chances of rain on Sunday. Cooler weather is possible when we get to the extended forecast in today’s Tri-Cities Weather blog outlook.

• Tonight-Mostly clear. Low 52.
• Wednesday-Sunny, high 86. Partly cloudy overnight, low 53.
• Thursday-Mostly sunny, some gusts of wind, high 85. A few showers possible Thursday night.
• Friday-Mostly sunny, small chance of morning rain. High 84.
• Saturday-Sunny and hot, high 88. Clouds and rain chances increase overnight.
• Sunday-Scattered showers, maybe a thunderstorm. High 68.

We’ve had a summer style high pressure blocking pattern set up over the past couple weeks across the southeast, keeping any fronts from getting here. It’s really been a lot more like June or July, just without the popup storms for the most part that we see in those months.

Sunday, we broke a record high that was set in 1945…only 8 years after they started keeping records for our area at the airport! That same year is in play for tomorrow, and we stand a good chance of breaking that 85 degree record tomorrow afternoon. The sky stays sunny all day, with a few clouds possible and low 50s tomorrow night.

While Thursday looks sunny, rain showers that will be approaching will kick off some gusty winds ahead of them, so the air not being stagnant will cool us off a little…by one degree, perhaps, to a high of 85. Better rain chances in the form of scattered showers are for Thursday night and into early Friday before that moves out. Friday finishes off with sunshine and mid 80s for highs.

If Wednesday is the hottest day of the year, it’ll be surpassed pretty quickly. Saturday should get all the way into the upper 80s with sunny skies all day long. For us, the good news is that the blocking pattern ends shortly thereafter. A strong cold front will bring scattered showers Saturday night, with a good chance of rain for a good bit of Sunday. We drop back to the upper 60s or so on Sunday, with low 60s for highs possible Monday behind the front.

We do have drought conditions going on across the area, so having some rain moving in is a good thing. Hopefully we don’t see any more high pressure domes blocking the pattern for a couple more months anyway. Thanks for checking here for the forecast today…including on all the station websites!