Forecast Last Updated at Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 7:37PM

The Perfect Storm; Warmer Friday

Rainfall amounts across the mountains and foothills over the last few days averaged in the four to six inch range. While there was spotty flooding throughout the region during the height of the storm on Tuesday, Fay's remnants proved to be mostly beneficial in putting a huge dent in the long-term drought. Year-to-date rainfall deficits were effectively halved. Tonight there is a continued chance for a shower with areas of fog developing. For Friday and for the holiday weekend, we return to your regularly-scheduled late August/early September weather program: A good deal of sunshine each day, warm and humid, with a risk for a PM shower or thunderstorm.

Voting in the 2009 Ray's Weather Center Calendar Photo Contest ended August 20. Winners will be announced by September 1.

Thursday Hi: 77 Lo: 66 Mostly to partly cloudy; Slight chance for a shower; Areas of fog overnight; Light northerly wind

Friday Hi: 87 Lo: 68 Partly cloudy; Warmer & humid; Slight chance of a PM t-shower; NE wind 5-10 mph

Saturday Hi: 87 Lo: 68 Partly cloudy; Warm & humid; An afternoon shower or t-storm around; Light wind

Sunday Hi: 86 Lo: 67 Scattered clouds; Slight chance for an afternoon t-shower

Monday Hi: 86 Lo: 65 More sunshine than clouds; Warm; Nice weather for Labor Day

Further Out

Tuesday - Scattered clouds; Nice weather; High in the mid 80s; Low in the mid 60s
Wednesday - Plenty of sunshine; Pleasant; High in the mid 80s; Low in the mid 60s

Forecast Discussion

In the wake of Fay we were left with a rather soupy tropical air mass today. Some clouds and a chance for a shower or even thundershower will linger into tonight along with areas of fog.

We'll see more sun the next couple of days. Don't cancel any holiday weekend outdoor plans, but just be mindful of the threat for afternoon thundershowers. A cold front will push into the state on Sunday. At this time, we believe drier air will make a push into the state, reducing if not eliminating rain chances for Sunday and Labor Day. We're not confident as to the final resting place of the front, so we'll maintain a slight chance for afternoon thundershowers during this period.

In the tropics...Tropical Storm Gustav is moving across Jamaica and will probably weaken some tonight then move through the Cayman Islands by Friday night. Gustav is forecast to regain hurricane strength before reaching the Gulf of Mexico by late in the holiday weekend. It could be a threat to the Texas/Louisiana coast toward next Tuesday or Wednesday. It will likely become a major hurricane within the next few days.

Tropical Storm Hanna formed today NE of the Northern Leeward islands. This storm is expected to move NW over the next 2-3 days and stay well NE of the Bahamas. There is a lot of uncertainty as to where Hanna goes from there but this storm will not affect any land areas through early next week.

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--Burnsville and Waynesville were recently added; Black Mountain will be up and running very soon. 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.