Mild if not warm for the weekend, thundershowers at times. Much colder next week!
It's a beautiful weather afternoon on this Friday across the Tennessee Valley! Sunny skies are in place, barely a cloud anywhere, and temperatures are up into the mid 70s. Beautiful mid October weather. The closest unsettled weather is up to the north over the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes.
That area of disturbed weather to the north includes snowflakes flying over Wisconsin this afternoon! Let me be clear that none of THAT is heading this direction. However, it is a subtle hint that colder air is on the way from Canada, arriving in our local area as we head into the first part of next week.
If you're heading out to dinner or to high school football games this evening, weather will be just fine, but you might need a light jacket. Winds will be breezy out of the southwest, but we drop into the 60s by early evening and then into the upper 50s by 8:00 or 9:00. With the southwest winds staying up overnight, lows won't drop too much farther than that... winding up in the low to mid 50s by daybreak Saturday morning.
We may see a few showers or even isolated thunderstorms dot the landscape on Saturday and Sunday as a frontal boundary stalls near the area. Not everyone will see rain, but there could be a few light showers Saturday morning, and then scattered thunderstorms Saturday afternoon and evening, with more activity again on Sunday. Daytime highs on Saturday look to be in the upper 70s to lower 80s, before stepping back to the low to mid 70s on Sunday.
That cold front pushes through Sunday night, and then much colder air rushes in early next week as high pressure from Canada noses into the Plains. That sets up strong northerly winds that pushes the coldest air of the season into our area. Highs will only reach the lower 60s Monday afternoon with clearing skies, and then we dip to near freezing by daybreak Tuesday morning. Even colder air settles in for Tuesday, with daytime highs only in the low to mid 50s! It wouldn't be too shocking if some areas of middle Tennessee only reach 48-50 for daytime highs Tuesday! And then Wednesday and Thursday mornings, lows look to start out in the mid to upper 20s. It's definitely going to feel more like January than October next week. Fortunately, it does look like temperatures start to moderate back closer to normal late next week, with highs return to the 70s by Friday or next weekend.