No floor

The morning lows in Asheville last week were out of control. After a couple of clearer than expected evenings, the low temperature dropped well beyond expectations, especially on Saturday, where the morning chill was in the mid-30s. Rain never came to the North Carolina town, and Forecast.io, was the only dry forecast in the house, securing victory for the day.
Actuals: Sunday, Dec 5th, High 55, Low 37
Monday, Dec 6th, High 63, Low 38

Grade: C-D

Asheville, North Carolina to Jacksonville, North Carolina

North Carolina doesn’t get enough respect as a large state. It will take over 5 hours over 367 miles. We will go at a pace of 66.3mph from the mountains to the sea, and see all that North Carolina has to offer.

Asheville, North Carolina

North Carolina will be on the southern flank of a ridge that is drifting into the Atlantic, just off shore from New York, and the tail of a cold front will trigger some clouds across North Carolina. If we get out of the mountains early enough, we could see some fog. It should clear up after Hickory, but clouds will remain present across North Carolina for the remainder of our drive, and only more so as we sink further south and towards the coast in Jacksonville. Hope we drove to the right one.

Jacksonville, North Carolina

Asheville, North Carolina

Asheville is one of the more surprisingly attractive vacation destinations, thanks both to the setting in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and destinations like the Biltmore Mansion. Hopefully, the weather holds for any off season visitors.

At 1154AM, ET, Ashville was reporting some haze, with clear skies and a temperature of 60 degrees. High pressure centered over the Great Lakes was the name of the game, but lingering moisture from the Gulf was interacting with a surface feature in Alabama, bringing about some clouds south and west of the southern Appalachians, which was generating western slope overcast and a large whorl south of Asheville, but no real concerns.
All eyes will be on a still developing trough and surface low in the northern High Plains. A cold front will be come well evident west of the Appalachians, from Lake Erie to Arkansas by tomorrow night, and the rotational energy with the system will eventually bring some warmer conditions and scattered clouds on Sunday and Monday as the boundary stages. As the parent low starts to track poleward and the front encounters the mountains, it will begin to deteriorate. Still, a little bit of rain is expected on Monday evening, with some cooling after the forecast period.
Tomorrow – Breezy and mostly cloudy, High 54, Low 46
Monday – Partly cloudy early, with increasing clouds and rain late, High 61, Low 44

TWC: Tomorrow – Intervals of clouds and sunshine High 55, Low 43
Monday – Overcast with rain showers at times. High 63, Low 47

AW: Tomorrow – Mostly cloudy and cooler High 55, Low 44
Monday – Mostly cloudy with a bit of rain in the afternoon High 66, Low 41

NWS: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny (late rain), High 56, Low 44
Monday – Showers likely, mainly between 11am and 4pm. Mostly cloudy, High 64, Low 39

WB: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny in the morning, then becoming partly cloudy (late rain) High 53, Low 46
Monday – Showers likely, High 63, Low 39

WN: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy, high 55, Low 43
Monday – Mostly cloudy with light showers likely, High 63, Low 47

FIO: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy throughout the day. High 56, Low 44
Monday – Overcast throughout the day. High 65, Low 35

Those lows on Monday are going to be non standard, and places like The Weather Channel will be hurt by not having hourly forecasts out that far. If the clouds don’t fill in ahead of the front tomorrow like we expect, there is some real bust potential. Today, the satellite imagery looks more interesting than it probably is.