Most Of The Rain Holds Off Until Late Tomorrow
Saturday Morning Update
Although we cannot rule our a few light rain showers on Saturday, the weather looks pretty nice for the first 75% of the weekend. Rain will return after sunset on Sunday and will get heavy and more widespread overnight into the very early hours of Christmas morning. Up to 1″ of rain looks possible for many of us. Catch the latest on storm chances were you live and find out when the rain will be moving out coming up here.
We are still under a severe drought for most of West Tennessee and Jackson is remaining one of the hardest hit places. Jackson has seen below normal rainfall each month since August and is now about 8 below on the year. Jackson has seen less than 20% of its normal rainfall as well for the month of December.
Out at the airport in Jackson since September 1st, less than 5″ has fallen compared to around 15″ during a normal year. That is about 1/3 of what we normally get over those 100+ days. There does appear to be some rain on the way though this weekend.
TODAY:
Mostly cloudy with a few hit or miss showers today, otherwise most of the rain is heading our way for Tomorrow night. Chance of rain today around 30% but there will be plenty of breaks in the rain throughout the day.
TONIGHT:
Partly cloudy skies with lows around 49 degrees.
CHRISTMAS EVE WEEKEND:
Christmas Eve day looks mostly dry with a mix of clouds and occasional sunshine but a few showers could make it in late day. Rain looks heavy at times from about 8 pm through 6 am Christmas Day. We could see a few storms on Sunday night but as of now, we are not expecting this to become a severe weather concern but we will be keeping an eye on the situation as the weekend progresses. Expect a 1/2″ to 1″ of rain between Sunday night and Monday morning for the holiday.
The reason the overnight temperatures will stay well above normal will be due to the increase in humidity and return on the gulf moisture due to a steady breeze out of the southeast. We will not see much of the sun this weekend as cloudy skies are expected for most of the Mid South. Rain chances are 30% on Saturday and 80% by Sunday night. Rain also looks likely on Christmas day as well on the back side of the storm system before it moves out.
NEXT WEEK:
Rain showers will hang around most of the day on Christmas but should clear on by Monday night or early Tuesday morning. Chances for rain on Christmas is 90% for West Tennessee. We are expecting dry weather to return for the middle of the week. Highs on Monday will reach the low 60s, but low 50s will be back on Tuesday and highs will around 50° on Wednesday. Overnight lows will slowly drop as the week goes on and we will fall back into the 30s by Wednesday morning. The winds will start out of the southeast on Monday before transitioning back to the west behind the front during the first half of the week. Expect a cloudy day on Monday with decreasing clouds late in the day on Tuesday. Wednesday should bring the return of the sunshine, but it will be a bit cool as well. We could see a few showers next Thursday as well but confidence in that system remains low as of now.
FINAL THOUGHT:
After a round of severe weather in the middle of December, our next chance for a few storms will return late this weekend. As of now, the setup doesn’t look overly concerning for West Tennessee but we really need the rain badly. We saw the coldest morning of the fall on Tuesday with many folks dropping into the teens for the first time this season. Although we are not expecting snow for Christmas, it seems highly likely that we are looking at a wet and soggy holiday weekend leading into Christmas.
For tips on preparing for the storms, click here. To download the WBBJ 7 Weather app, click here.
Storm Team Chief Meteorologist
Joel Barnes
Facebook: @JoelBarnesWeather
Twitter: @JoelBarnes13
Instagram: @joelbarnes13
