Forecast Last Updated at Monday, May 21, 2012 at 11:16AM

Lots of Dry Hours but Scattered Afternoon Thunder

It has been a beautiful start to the work week across Western NC, a continuation of Sunday's "sound of sunshine". But that will turn to the sound of thunder for many spots this afternoon as scattered thundershowers develop lasting into the evening. Tuesday will be the wettest day of the week as a front passes through slowly from the west. Decent coverage of showers and thundershowers continues into Wednesday. Drier and progressively warmer weather begins Thursday leading into Memorial Day Weekend.

We are excited about a new weather station... Check out the Watauga High School Weather Station. There's a webcam too! Speaking of webcams, have you seen the webcams at High Country Bank on Blowing Rock Road or at United Way Offices (also on Blowing Rock Road)?

Monday Hi: 74 Lo: 54 Increasing clouds; Scattered PM showers & t-showers; Light South wind

Tuesday Hi: 69 Lo: 52 Mostly cloudy; Showers & t-showers; Light wind

Wednesday Hi: 71 Lo: 51 Mostly to partly cloudy; Mostly PM t-showers; West wind 5-10 mph

Thursday Hi: 74 Lo: 55 Partly cloudy; Warmer; Isolated late-day t-showers

Friday Hi: 78 Lo: 57 Partly cloudy; Even warmer; Isolated late-day t-showers

Further Out

Saturday - Scattered clouds; Unseasonably warm; High in the lower 80s; Low in the lower 60s
Sunday - Scattered clouds; Continued unseasonably warm for late May; Isolated late-day t-showers; High in the lower 80s; Low in the lower 60s

Forecast Discussion

Let's dispense with Alberto quickly. It's still a minimal tropical storm located well off the GA coast. It will begin moving NE tonight and dissipate in a couple days with no significant effects on the Southeast Coast.

Closer to home... A front is located from Michigan through the Ohio Valley to West Tennessee. It's moving slowly east and will move across Western NC Tuesday then stall/wash out over Virginia and the Carolinas Wednesday. After Wednesday, a warm ridge will gradually build northeastward out of Texas into the Southeast meeting resistance as it reaches the Atlantic Coast.

The Dailies...
Monday... We'll have plenty of dry hours with pleasant temperatures; however, scattered showers and thundershowers develop later this afternoon lasting into the evening.
Tuesday... will be the wettest day of the week as the front moves through slowly. Expect mostly cloudy skies with showers and thunderstorms especially in the afternoon and evening.
Wednesday... The front will be washing out to our east; however, it along with upper-level energy lagging behind will produce scattered mostly PM showers and thundershowers.
Thursday through Sunday... We'll have more sunshine, mostly dry weather, and a warming trend leading into Memorial Day Weekend. An isolated late-day thundershower is possible any of these days. Saturday and Sunday may be the warmest days of the year thus far.

Announcements

Fitness & Nutrition Articles

The fitness and nutrition articles previously appearing in this space now appear under the Health and Fitness item in the Outdoor Living Menu above. It's complete with a before and after photo comparison.

Using information from RaysWeather.Com

First, all data and forecasts on RaysWeather.Com are the intellectual property of RaysWeather.com, Inc. Here is our usage policy regarding rebroadcast or redistribution of any information from our site...

"The reader is not permitted to reproduce, retransmit, redistribute any weather data, forecasts, analysis, image, or any other product from this site to any other person or entity, in any format by any means. All information, data, and images contained on any page of this site are copyrighted by RaysWeather.Com, Inc. (unless otherwise noted) and is the property of RaysWeather.Com, Inc. Information, data, and images from this site may not be archived or stored for future use. Exceptions to this condition of use may only be made by express, written permission of RaysWeather.Com." See our Terms and Conditions page.

In short, if you do not have a written agreement with us to do so, you do not have permission to republish any information found on this site. If you work for a media entity (TV, radio, website, newspaper, etc.) and wish to republish information from this site, please contact us at ray@raysweather.com or call our offices at 828.264.2030.