Weather

On Sunday I mentioned that there would be a weekly forecast, then updates as needed. Well, with a tropical system starting to change our weather, an update is needed. Starting with a fresh outlook from now through the weekend:

• Tonight-Partly cloudy, low 56.
• Thursday-Cloudy skies, maybe a rain shower. High 78.
  • Thursday night-Cloudy and windy, scattered showers late. Low 63.
• Friday-Cloudy with scattered showers, maybe a thunderstorm. High 77.
  • Friday night (HS football)-Cloudy skies, scattered showers. Lightning/a storm possible. Temps into the 60s.
• Saturday-Cloudy and windy with scattered showers. Storms possible. High 78.
• Sunday-Partly cloudy, a few afternoon showers possible. Highs near 80.

Francine, honestly, has already started to pitch clouds our way this afternoon. As I write this, it’s 4:21 in the afternoon, and the storm is just about to make landfall along the Louisiana coast as a hurricane around Category 1 strength. There will be tons of rain and wind, and a lot of Mississippi will have to deal with that in the coming days.

Post-landfall, Francine will of course weaken, but still drop rain from Louisiana to West Tennessee and western Kentucky with Arkansas included in some of the rain. Gusty winds will spread from that area all the way over here. We could see rain as early as Thursday afternoon, but the best chances of rain start early Friday morning and go through at least Saturday as Francine stalls just north of Memphis before it rains out this weekend.

For the purposes of football, it does look mostly like more rain and less storms for Friday night, but a thunderstorm is not out of the question. We could see some games delayed or postponed because of that. I’m not thinking we’ll get widespread rain, so hopefully games getting rescheduled to tomorrow won’t be a regular idea. As of now, Sullivan East and Unicoi County are still on to play in Erwin at 7 Friday night…and I’ll be there with coverage on 96.3 The Possum starting at 6:30, hopefully not having to deal with weather too much! Whatever game you’re going to, be ready for some rain Friday night.

ETSU plays North Dakota State in a big game Saturday evening at 5:30, then the Vols play Kent State Saturday in Knoxville, and they’ll have much of the same issues. Scattered showers are possible, and a thunderstorm (and associated lightning delay) can’t be ruled out. They’ll play through anything except if lightning gets close. The Titans will be up Sunday at 1 against the Jets in Nashville, and there are decent chances of rain and maybe storms there on Sunday as well. Thankfully, the NFL pays attention (to some degree) to lightning safety as well. For us, we should get a break during most of Sunday from the rain here in the Tri-Cities.

If you’re headed to Knoxville or Nashville for the games (or anything else for that matter), keep an eye on the sky and local TV meteorologists for the latest info. I’ll be back on Sunday evening with the forecast for next week!