Calmer weather to end the weekend

What a difference a day makes! Saturday morning we were waking up to temperatures in the 60s, tornado watches and scattered showers and storms. Then a cold front crossed state and ushered in colder, drier air which raced through the state with gusts well over 40 mph! Some reported gusts in central NC were:
Duke Forest (Orange county): 51mph
Fort Bragg: 53mph
Rocky Mount: 44mph, Fayetteville: 53mph, Raleigh: 52mph.











While we did not see snow (or even abundant rain) maybe that was a good thing, as brisk winds combined with wet soils led to a number of trees toppling over throughout the state. Many areas did see some measureable rainfall on Saturday in association with morning showers and storms. Most rainfall was far less than an inch.








Our drought monitor for this week continues to show improving conditions for our exceptional drought situation. We continue to see fewer counties under the most severe drought classification but this has been a 2-week trend. We still need to monitor our water useage very carefully.






There is not much rain activity in the forecast for the SE United states today, as high pressure takes control. This means sunshine and calmer winds for North Carolina and a good deal of the southeast. It also means nearly clear skies overnight tonight and cold temperatures!

We started out our Sunday in the 20s, but are expecting highs in the 50s for Sunday afternoon. West winds will average about 5-11mph.









Clear skies tonight, and much of the SE will see temperatures bottoming out in the 20s and 30s.








Monday the high shifts eastward. as it does we will see a shift in our winds to southerly which will warm us up into the 50s-60s for the start of the work week.
It promises to be a calm and mild week with another possibility of showers coming our way Friday. Have a good week.

Pati Darak, Weather on the Ones Meteorologist, News 14 Carolina