Thursday Night Forecast for June 17th:
Thursday was another fantastic day here in West Tennessee. It was a bit more humid Thursday then earlier in the week, and will be more humid of Friday and Saturday, but still no rain chances and mostly sunny. Possible rain showers associated with a tropical storm could pop up on Sunday, but most of the forecast models are keeping any significant impacts to our south and east. Storms are expected to develop Monday afternoon and evening though as well from an approaching cold front. Catch the latest information on the potential tropical storm and more on your Father’s Day weekend forecast coming up right here.
TONIGHT:
Clear skies will remain tonight in West Tennessee and the humidity will remain a bit lower then over the weekend allowing temperatures to fall into the upper 60s instead of the mid 70s. Winds will be calm most of the night. Tonight will be another night to open up those windows and turn the AC off one last time.
FRIDAY:
The winds will begin to change direction and come out of the south on Friday. That will increase the temperature as well as increasing the humidity. Highs will make it back into the 90s on Friday and the heat index will be back close to 100° again. We will see a few more clouds in Friday then most of the work week, but they will do little to tame the heat coming in. Dry weather though is expected to continue all day.
THIS WEEKEND:
Long term forecast models are suggesting a tropical storm system could form this week in the Gulf of Mexico and drift northward this week. The system could reach the gulf coast Friday night and bring shower and storm chances to West Tennessee over the weekend. Some of the models are also showing a cold front coming on for the weekend as well which could push the tropical activity to the east of us as well. The forecast is a bit tricky this weekend and we will be monitoring the situation closely this week in the Storm Team Weather Center.
Most of the model runs coming out on Thursday are showing the system slowing down some and the highest rain amounts are staying south and east of West Tennessee. Most of the models are showing a dry Saturday and rain chances are less on Sunday then they were in the earlier week’s forecast model outputs. That is obviously good news for people with outdoor plans this weekend, but continue to monitor the forecast as it could continue to change over the next 48 hours.
Highs on Saturday should reach the low 90s with mostly sunny skies and Sunday highs should reach the upper 80s. Expect more clouds on Sunday and chances for rain, with the greatest chances being places southeast of Jackson in West Tennessee.
Not all the forecast models are showing the storm staying to the southeast of us. The NAM (North American Model) is showing the storm moving further to the north before it makes its turn to the east. If that is the case, we will pick up some heavy rain showers and possible thunderstorms. We will have to watch the situation closely as the storm moves northward this weekend.
NEXT WEEK:
A powerful cold front looks to be heading our way on Monday next week and could bring some strong thunderstorms with it as if moves through the region. Highs will drop to the low 80s on Tuesday and Wednesday behind the front and some off us could see overnight lows dipping back into the upper 50s during the middle of the week.
FINAL THOUGHT:
Not only are we now officially in tropical storm season, we are still in the middle of our severe weather season. So you need to stay weather aware to changing weather patterns and monitor the forecasts closely. We got you covered in the WBBJ 7 Storm Team Weather Center as always.
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
