The "hot and stickies" are back!

The comfortable sleeping weather over the past several days is gone for the time being. Monday morning temperatures only sagged into the low 70s around Mecklenburg County thanks to two factors: overnight cloud cover and higher dew points. Today will bring afternoon highs in the low 80s under mostly cloudy skies to greet the first day of public school.

The increased moisture will foster a bit of atmospheric instability, creating the chance for showers and storms. No widespread severe weather is expected, but localized flooding is possible thanks to slow moving storms and the amount of water in the atmosphere. This forecast graphic at 8:00 p.m. today illustrates a parameter known as "precipitable water" (PW):

Simply put, PW is the amount of water vapor in the air above a given surface point. The yellow shading represents PW >2 inches, which is a very high value. Storms which tap into that amount of moisture can be very prolific rain-makers.

Tonight any remaining showers or storms will fade away, leaving behind very sticky air. Sunrise Tuesday (at 6:30 a.m.) will see temperatures in the low 70s again. Local thermometer readings will then climb into the mid-80s for afternoon highs under partly sunny skies. However, sunshine may help fire up more showers and storms tomorrow. 

Conditions Wednesday through Friday look to be similar but a bit hotter. More details on the late week weather will come in Wednesday's blogpost.