Weather! A wet start to fall

Rain, rain, rain. It’s going to be a damp couple of days this weekend.

September 23, 2011; 12:14 PM • by Weather Dan

Autumn began this morning at 5:04, and we’re in for a wet start to the new season.

An upper level area of low pressure is situated over the Great Lakes, and is pulling in moist air from the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico in front of a slow-moving cold front draped just west of the Appalachians. A broad area of moisture is being pulled into the region, and for at least the next 24 hours, we’re looking pretty wet. Overall, we’re not looking at much change in the pattern, especially as the cold front crosses the mountains this weekend and then stalls out across the Piedmont.

Because we’ve got so much moisture, the National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch until midnight tonight. We’re looking at an additional 1-2 inches of rain today, on top of the almost 7 inches of rain we’ve already received this month. The ground is still incredibly saturated in most places, so it won’t take a lot of additional rain to trigger further flooding. Temperature-wise, the rain will keep temperatures pretty stable. We won’t see many breaks in the clouds today, but what son we do get will help bump temperatures up a little bit. I don’t think we’ll get much above 77 today. Plan for lows tonight near 67, with some areas of patchy fog overnight.

On Saturday, we’ll see some drying out, but not a whole lot. We’ll still be looking at some rain chances through the weekend, but I don’t think it will be quite as widespread as what we’re seeing today. Temperatures will run up to near 80, especially if we can get some breaks in the clouds, before dropping back to 67 overnight.

Unfortunately, this pattern isn’t breaking in the short-term, so we get more of the same on Sunday. Partly to mostly cloudy skies, with a some periods of rain, a high of 80 and a low of 67.

We’re going to be stuck like this into next week, when a strong cold front finally blows through and clears things out by next weekend. Until then, though, enjoy warm and muggy.

September 23, 2011 12:14 PM 0