Beautiful spring weather for the midweek period

Despite the forecast for scattered showers Tuesday the rain pretty much missed Mecklenburg County. A few strong storms did zip by south of the state line, with large hail pounding parts of the I-40 corridor in North Carolina. The cold front which was initially forecast to stall across the area for a couple of days actually pushed south of the county during the pre-dawn hours this Wednesday morning.

Thus today is turning out to be a glorious mid-April day, with lowered dew points and bright sunshine. Temperatures which began the morning near 60º will climb into the upper 70s this afternoon, accompanied by light northeasterly winds. Skies will remain mostly clear tonight as winds calm, allowing temperatures to sag into the upper 40s by dawn Thursday.

Tomorrow then looks to be a "carbon copy" weather day, with conditions closely resembling today's. Late this afternoon the winds will turn more easterly, ushering in somewhat higher dew points as moisture is advected from off the Atlantic Ocean. That will help set the stage for another chance of showers and even some rumbles of thunder Friday afternoon ahead of the next cold front.

Even so, there's not a lot of rainfall in the local forecast in the near term, with conditions looking generally quiet here in the Old Dominion. For comparison to what's going on elsewhere across the U.S. here's a peek at the Weather Prediction Center's Day 3-7 Hazards Outlook: