Cooler air is moving in, clouds hang tough one more day, even cooler this weekend

We've been advertising this cold front in our forecasts for a while now, and it has finally arrived today. As of this afternoon, the front has passed through our entire viewing area. Temperatures are dropping quickly into the 50s and 60s as of this afternoon. Clouds are hanging touch behind the front tonight though, and they will be around for much of tomorrow. That added cloud cover may help to keep us closer to 50 degrees tonight for many of us than we otherwise would have been. Still, if you see enough holes in the clouds overnight, it is very likely you will drop into the 40s by daybreak on Tuesday. The rain and storms ahead of the front have moved out, and we will be dry overnight, but there may be a sprinkle or light shower on Tuesday under the upper-level trough as it moves overhead.

The big weather story in our area this week will be the big temperature change. Afternoon highs this week will drop into the 64 to 70 degree range after being in the low to mid 80s back over the weekend. Even more of a change is the overnight lows. Lows during the work week will be in the 45 to 51 range for most folks, some of the coldest air this season. Then, later in the week, a second front moves in by Thursday night and Friday with a reinforcing shot of even colder air. Afternoon highs for Friday and Saturday drop into the low to mid 60s with overnight lows only in the lower 40s. Some of our colder valleys and "hollers" may actually drop into the upper 30s with patchy light frost by daybreak on Saturday.

Meanwhile, we still have to keep an eye on the tropics. The Atlantic hurricane season doesn't come to an official end until the end of November, and there is often a secondary surge of activity in October. We are watching a disturbance currently in the east central Caribbean that has a 40% chance of development into a named system over the next 5 days as it moves into the west and northwest Caribbean. From there, IF it develops, it could either head west into Mexico, or if a cold front moving across the U.S. is timed just right, there is the potential for a system down there to turn northward into the Gulf. It's just WAY too soon to even begin to try speculating on that right now. But, as always, we will keep an eye on it and keep you posted!