The Charleston Gazette

Showers Ending Tonight...

A few afternoon showers brought Charleston yet another day with measurable rainfall, but drier weather is ready to move in just in time for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday Weekend. Showers associated with a weather disturbance will dissipate once the sun sets tonight leaving partly cloudy skies with the mercury dropping to a chilly low temperature of 45 degrees.

Thursday will start out with mostly sunny skies but the sun's heating along with plenty of moisture left over from all the rain we have seen will allow cumulus clouds to form during the afternoon for partly cloudy skies. The mercury will manage to make it to a mild afternoon high temperature of 70 degrees. It will be a bit breezy at times with winds from the west between 10-20 mph, which will make it feel a bit cooler than the temperature indicates. Friday will also be partly cloudy as we continue to see a northwesterly to northerly flow as high pressure tries to build into the region. It likes skies will be partly cloudy at this time with a high temperature of 71 degrees, however if there is a bit more cloud cover the high may not make it out of the upper 60s. That would still make for a comfortable afternoon although the average temperature this time of year is 76 degrees.

The holiday weekend still looks like a winner, especially keeping in mind how many weekends we have seen with some sort of precipitation this year. Saturday will be mostly sunny with a high temperature of 73 degrees. Sunday will also be mostly sunny with the high pressure center right overhead which will boost the afternoon high temperature all the way up to 80 degrees. As the high moves to the east on Monday, winds will swing to the south which will bring up warmer and more moist air which will push the mercury to an afternoon high temperature of 85 degrees under partly cloudy skies. Humidity will also be increasing which will make it feel muggy for anyone observing Memorial Day outside, which many people traditionally do on the unofficial start of summer. People should take extra precautions to stay hydrated and stay out of the direct sun, especially if taking part in any physical activities.

An approaching cold front looks to spread mostly cloudy skies with the possibility of afternoon showers and storms on Tuesday as people head back to work and school. The high temperature will still manage to make it to a warm 83 degrees. Another wave of energy will move in on Wednesday which will bring another chance of showers or storms with the mercury dropping a bit down to a high temperature of 78 degrees. Thursday will be dry and mostly cloudy with a high temperature of 77 degrees. Next Friday and Saturday also look to be dry with Friday reaching a high temperature of 80 degrees under mostly cloudy skies, and Saturday will warm up to 83 degrees under partly cloudy skies.

One Final Note: Today saw .01" in Charleston this afternoon, which was enough to put us in the books with measurable rainfall. That makes it eight straight days with measurable rainfall, the longest such streak since we started out 2005 with same amount of days with measurable precipitation. That also makes 13 of the past 15 days with measurable precipitation with a total of 5.73" of rainfall!

--Jim Barach
Chief Meteorologist5/21/08

CHARLESTON AREA
7 DAY E X T E N D E D FORECAST

THU
MAY 22