northgawx

It’s shaping up to be an absolutely gorgeous Labor Day Weekend, and here’s what you can expect.

For the past several days our weather has been dominated by hot, muggy conditions thanks to a strong “southeast” ridge, an upper level high pressure centered over the southeast coast. Overnight Friday into Saturday morning we will begin to see a significant pattern shift, however, with that ridge breaking down. By mid-day Saturday a surface high pressure system will begin ushering in winds from the northeast, something we would call a “backdoor front”. This front will usher in a classic late-summer wedge across the area resulting in lower humidity and lower temperatures.

In contrast to the heat, humidity and rain, this wedge will be accompanied by dry, sunny weather all weekend long. There is a very small chance of an isolated shower at the higher elevations on Saturday, but the latest short-term models show little to no development. This is good news for anyone with outdoor plans this weekend!

Afternoon highs for Saturday, Sunday and Monday will be extremely nice. Expect low/mid-80’s outside the mountains and upper-70’s in the cooler, higher terrain. For anyone who takes a trip up to Brasstown Bald highs in the mid-70’s will await with overnight lows dipping into the upper (and maybe even mid)-50’s! For most of us we’ll see overnight lows only down into the low-60’s, but the lack of humidity will make this feel a lot nicer than it sounds.

Looking beyond this weekend a large trough will be moving across the United States bringing the first major snow to the Rockies, and eventually bringing showers and a continued cool spell to our region. I don’t anticipate any record-breaking cold by any means, but any returning heat wave will have to wait for another week or so.

Enjoy your holiday!