Eyewitness News Storm Team Weather

JIM BARACH'S OUTLOOK
FROM THE STORM TEAM WEATHER CENTER

Weekend Starts Out With Sunshine...

A strong low pressure center that moved in along a stalled cold front brought cloudy skies and rain showers through much of Friday. Charleston picked up another .30" on Friday and can certainly use a bit of a break from the showers, which we will see through the first part of Saturday, after which another cold front will bring more showers later in the day which will be with us through most of Sunday. The heavy rainfall we have seen over the past several days has also resulted in a Flood Warning being issued for the Scioto River in Scioto County in Ohio through 6:00 PM Saturday.

Skies will clear out Friday night which will allow the mercury to drop to a low of 45 degrees. That means there will be some fog forming with all the moisture left over from the rain showers. The fog will clear fairly fast Saturday morning bringing us some welcomed sunshine at least through the early afternoon. An approaching cold front will spread clouds across the region during the afternoon which will lead to showers and possibly a few storms. The rain showers will move through southern Ohio first and then into West Virginia and Kentucky as the storm system will be moving down from the Great Lakes. Rainfall amounts should be light, in the range of about a tenth of an inch. The high temperature will make it to 73 degrees before the showers start to fall. It will also be breezy, with a southwesterly wind between 15-25 mph. Weather conditions should be very nice for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Great Strides Walk in the Kanawha State Forest starting at 9:00 Saturday morning. We would love to see you stop by to join us, and if you would like to make a donation, log onto cff.org. Even a dollar or two would be greatly appreciated! Sunday will be another cloudy, cool and rainy day. The cool air behind the cold front will allow the mercury to only reach a high of 60 degrees with a quarter to a half inch of rain falling throughout the course of the day.

Monday will finally give us a break from the rainfall through an entire day with mostly cloudy skies and a high temperature of 67 degrees. Tuesday will see a nice warm up ahead of an approaching cold front which will bring mostly cloudy skies and some showers along with thunderstorms, which could bring some heavy rainfall. The high will make it to 73 degrees and computer models are suggesting we could see an inch of rainfall or more. The showers will last into Wednesday morning before skies become partly cloudy. Wednesday's high temperature will make it to 70 degrees with the afternoon sunshine.

After that, it looks like we might finally start to see some warmer temperatures move into the region. An approaching storm system will bring a strong southerly flow which will mean gusty winds and much warmer temperatures. Thursday will be mostly sunny with a high temperature of 82 degrees. Friday will also be breezy and warm with a high temperature of 84 degrees, along with mostly cloudy skies and the possibility of thunderstorms. Although it is still a long ways off, there will certainly be the potential for the storms to be strong to severe, especially with the strong wind field and warmer temperatures ahead of the front.

Next Saturday will be the first day of the Memorial Day Holiday Weekend, which looks to also be mostly cloudy, warm and breezy. The high temperature should reach up to 85 degrees, and with the main low pressure center still out to the west will put us in range for more showers and storms. Sunday looks to see the front pass through the region which will leave mostly cloudy skies and showers with a cooler high temperature of 78 degrees. Memorial Day Monday at this time looks to be partly cloudy with a pleasant afternoon high temperature of 72 degrees.

One Final Note: Not counting today, our rainfall total for the year now stands at a whopping 19.15". That puts us at more than three and a half inches above our normal total for the year to date which is only 15.61"!

--Jim Barach
Chief Meteorologist
5/16/08

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