Warm Thursday... Hotter Weekend! - FOX Carolina 21

Warm Thursday... Hotter Weekend!

Happy Thursday!  There were some areas of fog out there this morning (particularly in Western North Carolina), but those will continue to lift as we move through the mid and late-morning hours. 

We'll stay partly cloudy and mainly dry through the early afternoon, but we will have to be on the lookout for a few storms later in the day.  Most of the action will again be focused in Western North Carolina - but even there storms will be fairly hit-or-miss.  An isolated shower or storm is possible in the Upstate, but most towns in SC and GA will stay dry (the best chance of an isolated storm will come in the northwestern corner of the Upstate).

Afternoon highs will be a bit above-normal, rising into the mid/upper 80s in the Upstate and right around 80 degrees in the Mountains. 

As a ridge of high pressure settles in for the end of the week and weekend, the big story will be the heat.  Upstate highs will top out in the upper 80s/low 90s through Memorial Day, while Mountain temperatures will rise into the mid and upper 80s through the same time.  Isolated showers/storms will be possible in the Mountains (and in the Upstate on Memorial Day), before rain and storm chances bump up by Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

Many of our forecast models are showing an area of low pressure forming off the southeast coast tomorrow and into the weekend.   While the ridge will keep it off-shore through the weekend, some models do show it meandering westward into the eastern Gulf by early next week.  If that moisture works in with the approaching front by Tuesday/Wednesday, we could be bumping the rain chances up... but it's way too early to make that call yet.  We'll be watching - and blogging - on it!