Much colder air arriving this weekend. Rain chances along the way at times.
After morning rain in association with the remnants of Nicole, we are back to mostly sunny skies across the Tennessee Valley this Friday afternoon. With the sunshine, we have actually managed to climb into the lower 70s today across the heart of our area! The well advertised cold front is beginning to push into the region from the northwest though, and this will bring an end to the warm weather for the foreseeable future.
Temperatures drop into the 50s during the evening as clouds begin to work back into the area. Showers begin overspreading from the southwest again after midnight, and initial evaporational cooling from that rain falling into what will initially be drier air will drop temperatures through the 40s into the mid to upper 30s. We do look to stay above freezing, but as temperatures drop into the 30s during the early to mid morning of Saturday, a few sleet pellets may try to mix in with the rain from around 3:00 AM to 7:00 or 8:00 AM. However, with temperatures above freezing, we do not expect any issues from this. The best chance of a bit of sleet mixing in with the rain would be in our western and northwest communities... places like Savannah, Waynesboro, Hohenwald, and Columbia in Tennessee. However, I can't completely rule it out as far south as Lawrenceburg, Pulaski, or even the Shoals and Iuka.
The rain showers end through the morning, but clouds hang tough as we head into the afternoon. We've lowered daytime highs to the low to mid 40s for Saturday, but if clouds hang tough all day, high temps might stay as low as the 38-41 degree range! Skies do clear overnight, allowing temperatures to drop into the mid 20s by daybreak Sunday. Even with sunshine returning Sunday, high temperatures only make the mid 40s.
Southerly flow ahead of our next system allows daytime highs to reach near 50 on Monday, and then that system spreads rain into the area Monday night into Tuesday morning. With overnight temperatures only in the upper 30s (or possibly even lower 40s), NO wintry weather is expected in our local area from this system. Rain clears out by the afternoon. Temperatures for next week stay on the chilly side, with daytime highs ranging between the mid 40s to near 50 degrees.