Debby's influence lingers Friday, but the weekend weather looks much better

One axiom of weather forecasting is that droughts often are broken by flooding. That's not always true, but here in the Old Dominion tropical systems during the late summer and early fall reinforce that notion. Certainly the remnants of Debby have gone a long way to dispel the dryness which had accumulated so far this year.

Rainfall totals - courtesy of Debby - across Mecklenburg county as of this Friday morning ranged from 3.88" in Clarksville to 2.32" in South Hill. That was enough to push a couple of local rivers into minor flood stages:

An additional quarter- to a half-inch of rain will collect in area gauges today. The tropical moisture will slowly move out of the region as a weak "cold" front moves it along. That boundary, aligned along the Blue Ridge crest as this is written, will crawl eastward to the I-85 corridor by sunset. The result will be lessening rain chances and even some peeks of sunshine as today progresses.

Temperatures which began the day in the mid-70s will climb into the low 80s this afternoon. Southwesterly winds will gust over 20 mph at times, calming down by the time sunset occurs at 8:12 p.m. Tonight that weak boundary will dissipate while another "cold" front follows it eastward across Virginia. 

Saturday will then dawn under mostly sunny skies as the somewhat drier air behind the second front replaces the tropical air mass Debby left behind. High tomorrow will top out in the upper 80s, about average for mid-August. By Saturday night even drier air will work into the region, dropping dew points several degrees. Sunday will thus begin with temperatures in the mid-60s under mostly sunny skies. Local thermometers will register afternoon highs in the mid-80s for the latter half of this weekend.