Storm update & heat outlook! - FOX Carolina 21

Storm update & heat outlook!

Storms have already started firing this afternoon in the mountains.  The greatest threat for severe storms will be in the NC mountains and toward central NC and VA, where wind shear and instability are lining up just right.  In the Upstate, we don't have as much shear to get storms organized, but we have plenty of heat to add fuel to any little storms that pop.  Therefore, we'll likely see a couple of pulse storms in the Upstate (the kind of storms that go up fast, but also fall apart pretty quickly.  Hail and damaging wind can occur with those storms).  Best chance for Upstate storms will be north of I85.

Skies should clear after midnight, and fog will settle in.  We'll start with patchy fog on Wednesday, then the heat will become our big weather story!  An upper ridge is going to be in control, and this causes sinking air and warming temps aloft.  Essentially we'll have the perfect set-up to find record tying or breaking temps!  We'll reach to near 90 in the Upstate and mid to upper 80s in the mountains.  Wednesday's record is 90 for the Upstate and 88 for the mountains (thanks to Alex Wilson for digging up that data!), so I think we have a shot at at least tying the Upstate record. 

We'll also we monitoring air quality very closely, as high pressure will keep our pollutants/emissions from mixing very well and escaping into the higher levels of the atmosphere.  Air quality alerts may be issued by the end of the week.  We'll keep up with NWS on that!