Shower and storm chances ramp up into the mid-week

It was another summer-like day for primary Election Day on Tuesday as a southwest breeze along with a mix of clouds and some sunshine helped push more unseasonably warm air into the region. With a frontal boundary approaching from the northwest, you could feel an uptick in the humidity levels so it felt a bit on the muggy side as well. Afternoon highs managed to jump back into the mid to upper 80s and with enough moisture around we saw a few pop-up storms as the day wore on. This will be a prelude of things to come into the mid-week.

With the frontal boundary set to slowly drop through the commonwealth on Wednesday, you’ll need the rain gear on occasion with scattered showers and thunderstorms on tap across the board. This is definitely good news given the on-going spring drought as we definitely need to get some water in the ground. Clouds and occasional showers in place will knock our temperatures down a bit so look for afternoon highs to reach the upper 70s to around 80 degrees in most locations.

Rolling into the late week we may see a brief break from the wet weather as the front drops south of the commonwealth, allowing for slightly drier and cooler air to move in. It will be a battle between high pressure over the Great Lakes and the front across the Tennessee Valley so the best shower and storm chances should be across the southern half of the state with more isolated activity the farther north you go. Afternoon highs will back down into the low-70s which is a few degrees below average for this time of the year. The front will arc back to the north as a wave of low pressure rides along it on Friday so look for more widespread rain and storm chances to return as we close out the week. Afternoon highs will recover a few degrees into the mid to upper-70s.

Heading into the long Memorial Day weekend our weather pattern will remain unsettled with occasional rain and storms in play. With plenty of outdoor activities on-going over the holiday weekend you’ll definitely need to keep an eye on things and make adjustments as needed given the rain chances. Saturday should feature multiple rounds of showers and storms and we’ll see a repeat performance but to a lesser extent into Sunday and Memorial Day as several waves of energy slide through the region while tapping into the moisture that will be sitting over our area. It may not be a total wash-out but there should definitely be some rain to work around through the holiday weekend and beyond. Afternoon highs should be pretty close to average with upper 70s and lower 80s depending on the amount of cloud cover and showers we see.