The actual weather vs. forecasts haven't matched up well lately. Originally it appeared that Mecklenburg county could be affected by strong to severe storms for several days this week, a natural follow-on to the rough weather out west moving in this direction. As it turned out the local area escaped that storminess for several reasons: a nearby backdoor cold front, cloudy skies, and westerly winds off the mountains suppressing storms due to drying out the air via the downsloping effect (shown below):
Thanks to a couple of cold fronts there will be a few showers and perhaps a storm or two locally this weekend, but not much rain is expected. After high temperatures in the upper 70s the first cold front will push through late this Friday afternoon. That boundary will create a chance of rain near the dinner hour, and behind it winds will swap around out of the north.
Tonight much cooler and drier air will filter into the region, creating a cool start for Saturday. Sunrise tomorrow at 6:11 a.m. will see temperatures dropping into the upper 40s around the county. Temperatures will then top out near 70 degrees before sunset occurs at 8:11 p.m., marking the first day of 2024 with 14 hours of sunshine. The drier air will make things feel a lot cooler on Saturday than during the recent stretch of sticky humidity.
Then late Saturday afternoon cold front #2 will pass through, bringing clouds and a slight chance of showers near dinnertime. The air mass behind this boundary will reinforce the cool dry air already in place. Sunday - Mothers' Day - will start out with local thermometers bottoming out near the 50 degree mark before climbing to the mid-70s under sunny skies during the afternoon.
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