Quiet weather is associated mostly with high pressure systems like the one which has dominated Mecklenburg county conditions for several days. This situation will continue today - Wednesday - and tomorrow, but clouds are literally on the horizon for the weekend.
The overnight chill-down dropped local thermometer readings into the mid- and upper 20s at dawn this morning. However, the dry air and strengthening February sunshine will warm things up this afternoon despite a cool northerly breeze. Temperatures look to climb into the low 50s, which is the average high for this date.
After another nocturnal nose-dive into the mid-20s temperatures on Thursday afternoon will rebound into the upper 50s. The high pressure will slide off the coast and allow winds to swap around out of the south, a much warmer and moister regime. This will also open the door for clouds to begin overspreading the area Thursday night.
Lately winds have been relatively light by winter's standards. That is also due to the high pressure system which has remained overhead. When the air pressure doesn't change much over distance (called "the gradient") winds are light. But when that gradient increases the winds kick up. The comparison is shown in this graphic:
By Friday the pressure gradient will steepen as the next storm system begins its approach from the west. This is the one that hammered the West Coast with flooding rains earlier this week. The end of the work week will be mostly cloudy but much warmer than average. The weekend? Well, it looks wet without being a total washout. Details to come in Friday's blogpost.
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