Forecast Last Updated at Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 6:28AM

Expect a Great Saturday; Showers/Storms Return for Sunday

Saturday looks to be a 4-5 Golf Ball Day across the RWC forecast area as plenty of sunshine and mild temperatures are expected for the first half of our weekend. However, things quickly change for Sunday as a cold front coming in from the north will increase shower and storm chances by Sunday afternoon with some storms possibly reaching strong to severe limits to round out the weekend.

Saturday Hi: 67 Lo: 50 A few AM clouds, otherwise mostly sunny; West winds 5-15 mph with higher gusts at times; An isolated late evening shower is possible

Sunday Hi: 61 Lo: 42 Plenty of clouds; Scattered showers or T-showers by the afternoon; West wind 5-15 mph, becoming NW 5-15 mph at night

Monday Hi: 62 Lo: 46 Partly cloudy; West winds 5-15 mph

Tuesday Hi: 64 Lo: 53 More clouds than sun; Scattered showers or T-showers likely

Wednesday Hi: 71 Lo: 52 Mix of clouds and sun; An isolated shower possible

Further Out

Thursday - Partly cloudy; An afternoon shower or t-shower possible; High in the lower 70s; Low in the mid 50s
Friday - Mostly cloudy; Scattered showers; High in the lower 70s; Low near 60 degrees

Forecast Discussion

It's a chilly start on this Saturday morning across the RWC forecast area. Many of the highest elevations are in the mid 30s with a gusty wind, at times topping 15-20 mph. Much of the region will wake up to mostly clear skies, with the only exception being the TN/NC border counties, but you folks will clear out pretty quickly this morning, leaving behind sunshine for the entire region.

The only bug in the ointment on this Saturday could be a stray shower or two later this evening in the high country as a little piece of upper level energy skirts through the region. Don't bet your life savings on this shower chance - just know it's there!

If you are a betting man/woman, your better bet would be rain and storm chances for Sunday as a cold front moves in by the early afternoon hours. Shower and storm chances will increase from the north as the second half of our weekend progresses. A few of these storms could reach strong to severe limits with the main threat being gusty winds and the potential for small hail. This will be a quick moving front, and as so, is expected to exit the region to our south by the late evening hours on Sunday.

We'll get a brief break from the clouds on Monday before another front moves in Tuesday, once again increasing our chance for showers and storms.

Our pattern will remain active over the next several days. However, the other big story by the middle of next week will be warming temperatures. Highs by later in the week are expected to be well above average with parts of the FH and MTNS reaching 80+, while the HC will see the mid 70s! If you are looking for the warmer weather, just wait a few days - it's on its way!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Announcements

RaysWeather.Com continues to grow. We are an "information age" company using the web to broadcast the message but also as a tool for producing the message. RaysWeather.Com (what we call RWC) has evolved from "Ray's hobby in Beautiful Downtown Rutherwood" in 1999 to the most widely read media outlet in NW NC reaching 150,000 to 200,000 people per month and covering the weather from NC/VA line to Asheville and Wolf Laurel. We will continue to grow geographically as well--Roaring Gap has just been added; Waynesville, you're next. The heart of the growth is good data, "local flavor", and THE most reliable forecast.

We recently added our 6th forecaster to the best forecast team ever assembled for this region. It's time for us to introduce "the crew"...

• Dr. Ray Russell is a Computer Science professor at Appalachian State University. His PhD is in Computer Science from Georgia Tech (1989); weather has been a long-time passion. He started posting a "snow forecast" on the university website back in the mid 1990's; this evolved into RaysWeather.Com in 2000. Ray lives in Boone and has taught at Appalachian State since 1991.
• Eric Anderson (RWC's Chief Meteorologist) received his degree in meteorology from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and is a 15-year veteran of NOAA with experience in forecasting, observation and analysis. A native of western North Carolina, Eric's former tenure in the National Weather Service gave him the opportunity to forecast for areas of the Mid-Atlantic region. His professional interests include upslope flow snow events in the southern Appalachians, as well as cold air damming in the Carolinas.
• Alan Simons, born in Fayetteville NC, has a Bachelor of Science in meteorology and almost 20 years of professional experience that includes forecasting for newspapers, websites, radio, aviation, and the military. He first became interested in weather in North Carolina, and RWC takes him back home after a variety of duty stations, from New York to Hawaii. Alan's been with the RWC team since 2003.
• Tim Kirby joined Ray's Weather Center in October 2004 and lives in his hometown of Fries, VA (pronounced Freeze). The folks from this small Grayson County town say "it's freeze in winter and fries in summer". He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology from NC State University. While at NC State, he was president of the NCSU Student Chapter of the American Meteorological Society. Before joining RWC, Tim worked for the National Weather Service for ten years in Raleigh, Chattanooga and Morristown, Tennessee. Tim has always loved the challenge of forecasting and owes his dedication to a childhood fascination of snow (no school!).
• Harold Alston is a N.C. native with Bachelor of Science degrees from both App State (Broadcast Communications) and UNC-Asheville (Meteorology). He has 30 years experience tracking and forecasting NC weather including 15 years experience for media outlets. Nailing down Appalachian wedges & wintry possibilities are his areas of expertise with a lifetime of N.C. weather experiences to reference.
• Jeff Cox, a native of Asheville, is the latest addition to the RWC team. He earned a Bachelor of Sciences in Atmospheric Sciences from UNC-Asheville. At UNC-A, he was the lead forecaster for the school's Weather Forecast Line, campus Radio Station, "The Blue Echo" and the campus newspaper, "The Blue Banner." Jeff has experience as a meteorologist in both television and radio. He spent over 2 years in Macon, GA, as the chief meteorologist at WGXA FOX-24. He also has experience as a radio broadcast meteorologist for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, Georgia.

So now you know who's behind the forecast. It's not magic--just lots of hard work by many people. In addition to meteorology, keeping RWC going requires office mangement, programming, computer system's administration, ad sales, and graphic design. We'll introduce you to the rest of the team soon.