Weather Permitting: Here's your Fayetteville area weekend forecast
A week until Christmas, and the Cape Fear region will be basking in mid-70 temperatures. With weather like this, who needs a Grinch?
It looks like this warm weekend will be the last hurrah of the year, however. By Monday, temperatures will plunge back into the upper 20s in some spots, triggering a much cooler holiday week. Don't look for snow, but at least you'll be able to wear those ugly Christmas sweaters with pride.
Here's the setup
The Carolinas are enjoying a warm southwest flow, thanks to well-placed high pressure. This has forced more volatile weather to our north, leaving us with a couple of gorgeous days ahead.
Fayetteville and the Cape Fear region will see sunshine and mild temperatures Friday into Saturday. We may see some light fog both mornings, but nothing serious. Afternoon highs will break into the mid-70s, not too far off the daily records, with overnight lows in the upper 50s.
Things will begin to change later Saturday. A potent upper-level system in the Midwest should have enough strength to push high pressure out to sea. A cutoff low sliding east will help bring much colder air into the Southeast. We should stay dry through Saturday afternoon, but increasing clouds will be noticeable. Light showers are likely Saturday night,
Sunday is looking like one of those "high temperature at midnight" sort of setups. By Sunday sunrise, temperatures in Fayetteville will begin dropping behind a brisk northerly flow. Afternoon highs will probably stall in the mid-50s, then give up the ghost at sunset. Overnight, look for lows to hit freezing in Fayetteville, and the upper 20s in the region's usual colder spots.
Next week
This cold air will be hanging around, it appears. Monday's highs will be about 50The region will moderate a bit as the week progresses, hitting the upper 50s by mid-week and the low 60s on Thursday. At that point, it's possible more cold air will be working into the region.
First call for Christmas
The way things look now, Christmas should be chilly, but dry. Traveling around the Carolinas shouldn't be an issue as any precipitation should stay to our north and west until after the holiday.
For now, enjoy the last truly warm days of the year!
Got a weather question? Chick Jacobs can be reached at ncweatherhound@gmail.com or NCWeatherhound on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville, NC weather for the weekend
