For the last 4 months, the days have been steadily growing shorter. On top of that, the sun's rays are less direct, limiting solar insolation. While we haven't had to pay in a big way yet, we are well on our way to winter, and it's just a matter of time before the Arctic hounds begin to howl. The return of colder air is a key ingredient for winds and stronger storms. In fact, if the temperature was uniform over all the planet, there would be no wind. The larger the thermal gr

The coldest temperatures of the season are right around the corner as a powerful cold front will bring strong wind gusts and crashing temperatures. By Wednesday night/Thursday morning lows (above) are forecast to fall into the upper 20s/low 30s locally. There will be a bit of a quick burst of warmth early Monday with gusty southerly winds before the cold front comes sweeping through switching the wind out of the northwest. Gusts could top 40-50mph especially Tuesday with stro

A weekend storm system is bringing some light rain to the region, and this same disturbance will also be the beginning of an autumn cool down. While not quite as cool in North Carolina, I had the chance to travel along the Blue Ridge Parkway to take in the tremendous autumn color as seen above. Our weekend storm system will be followed by a reinforcing disturbance later this week, which will really send in the seasonally cool air Tuesday.  This potent upper-level trough sends

M'm M'm good! I'm not talking about Campbell's soup, (which I ate a lot of as a kid). I'm referring to Friday's weather, which saw temperatures hit the 80s in many spots. Those readings are more typical of what you would find in mid-July, not 3 months later, October 17th. Here's a sampling of some of the readings. For a little perspective, below are Friday's temperature departures, (just how much readings were above normal). Impressive, if I say so myself. It looks like we wi

Here we are on the verge of the weekend and if I had to sum it up, I would say we start warm, end up cool, with some rain in the middle for good measure. The key to our successful moments will be timing. Fortunately, the daytime hours of Friday will be summery and dry before rain arrives overnight and departs by morning. That allows for a break Saturday with another round of mild temperatures before more showers Saturday night. The system exits early Sunday, leaving us dry bu