Heavy Rain And Storms In The Friday Morning Commute

Weather Update: Thursday, April 20th, 7:50 pm.

Good evening everyone. Storms are nearby this evening as expected but will be slow to get here. Most of us want see rain or storms until after midnight with the bulk of the rain in the morning commute for Friday. Here are the current watches and warnings:

The weather will remain dry through the daytime ours with rain and storms slowly approaching the Mississippi by 11 pm. Showers and storms will continue to slowly drift into the western counties around Midnight and continue eastward into the morning hours.

Storms should weaken some as they make their way through the rest of west Tennessee. A marginal threat or 1 out of 5 risk of severe weather will exist into the late evening for areas west.

Counties along and near the Mississippi River should watch closely into late tonight as a couple of storms could hold together long enough to produce large hail or damaging winds. The threat for flooding will start to climb over west Tennessee as we continue through the morning. The Friday morning commute looks very rainy with limited visibility and rain heavy at times.

You can also catch the latest on the storms and movement with our StormTracker 7 Radar below:

Rainfall totals have been decreasing in recent model runs this evening but as high as around 3 inches could fall in isolated areas between the late night and late morning hours of Friday. If you live

in low lying areas, take extra care to monitor closely.

Most of us will not see rain before midnight but chances of rain will increase quickly in the early morning hours. Even into the morning commute, we could have some strong storms around the area.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy with a 60% chance of rain after midnight. Lows around 62 with breezy south winds around 10 to 15 mph.

Friday:

Cloudy rain likely. Rain will be heavy at times in the morning and again in the afternoon. Chance of rain around 100%. Winds will shift more from the northwest around 10 to 15 mph. Highs in the lower 60’s. Rainfall totals generally between 1 and 2 inches with isolated higher amounts.

Timing:

Most areas will not see rain until after midnight but a few storms will begin to move into the western counties around 11 pm and slowly push eastward into the early morning hours.

More concentrated rounds of rain will move in around the morning commute as the main cold front will make a push into Tennessee, increasing southerly flow/shear/convergence along the main prefrontal trough. This will likely lead to a rapid increase and expansion of showers and storms through Daybreak through late morning.

Rain will continue to be over much of the area into the lunch hour time. We should see some break in the heavy rain shortly after before a final round begins in the mid to late afternoon. Rain will finally push out of the region as the trough amplifies and speeds up taking the bulk of the rain with it by the evening.

Friday Night:

Friday night will bring cooler and drier weather as overnight lows drop into the lower 40’s.

Saturday:

Highs on Saturday will try to rebound to the lower to mid 60’s with gradual clearing and breezy northwest winds.

Saturday Night:

Saturday night will bring a moderate chance of some patchy frost as lows drop into the upper 30’s under partly clear skies.

Sunday:

Sunday looks to be a cool fall like day with highs in the upper 50’s under partly cloudy skies followed by mostly clear and colder in the night with overnight lows around 36-38.

Stay with WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News and StormTeam 7 for the latest on the weather online and on air.

Brian Davis
Storm Team 7 Meteorologist
Twitter – @Brian7wbbj
Facebook – Briandaviswbbj
Email – Badavis@wbbjtv.com