May 31, 2020 #TriCitiesWx Forecast

Monday begins the month of June, which starts summertime for most people. We’ve already started with the usual summer weather patterns and that likely won’t change for a while. Here’s the Tri-Cities Weather Blog forecast through Thursday!

Summer weather means warm, humid conditions and occasional afternoon storms. The early part of this week won’t include the humidity or the afternoon storms so much, but that will change later this week. Here’s the outlook:

• Tonight-Clear skies with morning fog. Low 47.
• Monday-Mostly sunny. High 80.
• Monday night-Mostly clear. Low 53.
• Tuesday-Mostly sunny. High 84.
• Wednesday-Mostly sunny. High 88.
• Thursday-Partly cloudy, scattered afternoon showers and storms. High 87.

Things are pretty calm for the first few days of the week, with a mountain shower or storm possible Tuesday and Wednesday. Starting on Thursday, rain and thunderstorms become possible, mainly in the afternoon. It looks like more rain and storms will be scattered around the area on Friday as well.

The good news is, most of the time in summer any storms that form don’t hang around for long, and after dark they’re normally gone. Sometimes they’ll intensify just enough to become briefly severe, causing damaging winds for a short amount of time. That may also happens as the storms dissipate.

For the most part, the next four days feature a whole lot of sunshine and dry weather. So, to the extent that you can, get out and enjoy it!

May 18, 2020 #TriCitiesWx Forecast

Sometimes, cold fronts get stuck. The difference between air masses becomes little, and that brings a lot of rain where what’s left of the front lingers. That’s our situation for pretty much the rest of the week, and we’re in for a chance of flooding because of it. Welcome to the Tri-Cities Weather Blog forecast for tonight through Friday!

We already have a flash flood watch up through Thursday to our east, from Grayson County, Virginia, down the first few counties in North Carolina, from Ashe County to Yancey County. Up in the mountains, a lot of rain over the course of a few days can cause some big time flooding.

Also, there’s a tornado watch up just to our northwest, in southeast Kentucky, until 9 PM. I’m not expecting any severe storms for our area, but thunderstorms are near, and will be possible off and on from now through Thursday at least. Here’s the outlook:

• Tonight-Cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low 62.
• Tuesday-Cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms. High 70.
• Tuesday night-Cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low 54.
• Wednesday-Cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms. High 67.
• Thursday-Cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms. High 74.
• Friday-Cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms. High 73.

And in case you wondered, I did literally copy and paste the forecast parts in there, just changing the highs and lows. It’s not going to rain all day every day, and the sun will come out at times between storms. But we can expect to see rain and storms throughout the next few days, some with some heavy rain. And folks that get heavy rain more often are more likely to have to deal with flooding in the coming days.

I’ll keep an eye on all of that, and if any warnings come up you’ll be able to get them on my Twitter, which is on the right side of the blog. Have a great Tuesday…stay safe!

May 15, 2020 #TriCitiesWx Forecast

Here’s a quick forecast heading into the weekend:

• Tonight-Mostly clear, with patchy fog in the morning. Low 55.
• Saturday-Mostly sunny. A stray shower or thunderstorm in the afternoon. High 84.
• Saturday night-Partly cloudy. Low 58.
• Sunday-Mostly sunny with a small chance of rain or a thunderstorm in the afternoon. High 84.
• Monday-Showers and thunderstorms likely. High 77.

Basically, Saturday and Sunday will feature a summer type format. We’ll have sunny skies and warm weather both days, with pop-up showers and storms developing in the afternoon and evening. Those storms will die off after dark. Just keep in mind if you’re outside to get indoors if you hear thunder!

Rain and storms are more likely on Monday, as a cold front moves through. That will be a day when we stay indoors for most of the day.

Have a great weekend!

May 8, 2020 #TriCitiesWx Forecast

I had to double-check to make sure, but it really is May. We’re currently having weather more like October or November with the cool weather, clouds and rain. We’re headed into the low end of a roller coaster on today’s Tri-Cities Weather Blog forecast!

We’ll have a little increase temperature wise this weekend, followed by another drop into cooler weather. But the extended forecast has the track moving back uphill again. Here’s the outlook through Tuesday:

• Tonight-Clouds and showers this evening, partly cloudy and cold overnight. A frost or freeze and mountain snow showers possible. Low 31.
• Saturday-Decreasing clouds after a small chance of morning rain. High 54.
• Saturday night-Partly cloudy. Frost or freeze likely. Low 31.
• Sunday-Partly cloudy, a small chance of rain late. High 65.
• Monday-Mostly sunny. High 57.
• Tuesday-Mostly sunny. High 63.

While our best chance of rain is this (Friday) afternoon through tonight, we could see a little bit of rain this weekend. Sunday looks like the day, but even then it’s a small chance of rain late in the day. A cold front swings through then that drops our high temperatures back to the 50s for Monday.

From there, we get back into the 60s on Tuesday, with warmer weather and perhaps the number 70 coming into play late next week. So better things are coming!

Thanks for checking here for the forecast. Have a great weekend!

May 3, 2020 Severe Thunderstorm Watch

The Storm Prediction Center has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 11 PM for west of the Tri-Cities. It does include Lee and Wise Counties and the city of Norton in Southwest Virginia. Here’s the map:

Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 11 PM, 5/3/2020

As you can see, most of the watch is in Eastern Kentucky, with 2 counties in Virginia and 9 in Tennessee involved. As of this blog, the storms are located west of I-75 for the most part, until you get way up into Kentucky.

I’m sure you’re looking outside thinking, “It’s a perfectly fine afternoon, why is the watch all the way out here?” Well, that happens more often than not because the sunshine ahead of the storms helps fuel them. It’s not always that simple, though. The main thing is it gives everyone farther east time to get ready once the storms arrive.

This time around, the storms are most likely to bring damaging winds and some hail. As always with thunderstorms, the tornado risk is not zero. However, in this instance, the chances of any tornadoes are very low.

Again, a reminder, Bristol, Kingsport, Johnson City, Abingdon, Greeneville, Elizabethton are not involved in the watch right now. If a new one is issued for those areas, it won’t be for a few more hours yet.

If you’re anywhere from Middlesborough, Kentucky, into Virginia from Caylor and Ewing to Rose Hill, Jonesville and Pennington Gap in Lee County to Big Stone Gap, Norton, Wise, Coeburn and Pound in Wise County, be on the lookout for potentially severe storms to arrive, likely by 10pm or so.

The rest of us will see storms moving through later tonight, but the preponderance of evidence indicates that they will be weakening significantly thanks to the loss of sunlight. I’ll be watching the storms just in case, because it’s always better to expect the unexpected.

After tonight, tomorrow looks dry. We’ll have another round of rain and storms on Tuesday, then scattered showers Wednesday. Thursday looks dry. Temperatures should be at or below our average for this time of year in the low 70’s.

Make sure to keep up with me and the stations on Twitter (see links on the right) for more immediate updates as the storms move through tonight!