Forecast Last Updated at Friday, October 10, 2008 at 7:30PM

Clouds Hang Tough Through Saturday; More Sun Sunday

This afternoon's highs ranged from 55 degrees on top of Beech and Sugar Mountains (socked in with clouds like most of the High Country) to 75 just across the state line in northeast TN where scenic Watauga Lake warmed to 75 degrees thanks to more sunshine. Clouds will hang tough tonight and on Saturday with perhaps a bit of drizzle and fog lingering near the Blue Ridge. Columbus Day Sunday/Monday will feature more sunshine and milder temperatures. Winds will become breezy tonight and through the weekend.

I'm getting lots of questions about fall color. Mast General Store maintains a weekly fall color report for Western North Carolina in our Outdoor Living Section.

OctoberFest is this weekend at Sugar Mountain Resort; here is our Hour-by-Hour Forecast for the event.

The winning photos in the 2009 RWC Calendar Contest have been named. Thanks to everyone for 870 entries this year. Calendars should be available for sale by October 20.

Friday Hi: 63 Lo: 51 Lots of clouds overnight; Patchy fog & drizzle mainly east near the Blue Ridge; East wind 5-15 mph with gusts to 25 mph at higher elev's

Saturday Hi: 65 Lo: 47 More clouds than sun; East wind 5-15 mph with gusts to 25 mph at higher elev's

Sunday Hi: 68 Lo: 46 Mostly sunny; Pleasant temperatures; East wind 5-15 mph with gusts to 25 mph at higher elev's

Monday Hi: 72 Lo: 46 Clear skies; Warmer

Tuesday Hi: 73 Lo: 49 Lots of sun; Seasonally warm

Further Out

Wednesday - Mostly clear; Continued warm; High in the lower 70s; Low near 50 degrees
Thursday - Scattered clouds; Not as warm; High in the upper 60s; Low near 50 degrees

Forecast Discussion

A disturbance moving east across the Southeastern States will move east off the GA/SC Coast today. This feature has been responsible for the clouds and rain over the past two days, but we should start to see very gradual improvement as it moves farther away. Tonight through the weekend, this disturbance will head Southwest toward Florida. High pressure centered in the Northeast will wedge down the Appalachians producing a gradually drier northeasterly flow late in the weekend. That high pressure will be our weather maker (or non-weather maker) through the rest of the 7-day forecast.

A moist easterly flow will produce lots of clouds tonight and Saturday. Temperatures will be near normal this weekend, but expect breezy conditions especially at higher elevations.

Sunday through Wednesday, high pressure will be in control but that northeasterly flow will subside allowing temperatures to go well above normal.

Thursday, the next front will approach from the northwest. We'll add a few clouds and take a few degrees from high temperatures. Be prepared for the chilliest weather of the season so far by next weekend.

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--Roaring Gap 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.