Forecast Last Updated at Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 6:58AM

A Mix of Sun & Clouds; A Stray Shower or Two Possible

Our weather over the high country continues to be influenced by both high pressure over the southeast and Tropical Storm Cristobal off the North Carolina coast. A soupy airmass this morning is forcing us to deal with a low cloud deck and a bit of mist/showery activity. There will be times of sun and times of clouds today, similar to Saturday, along with a stray shower chance. A better chance of showers and storms will arrive via an approaching cold for the upcoming workweek.

The 2009 Ray's Weather Calendar Photo Contest is underway. It will run through July 31 with winners to be chosen by the middle of August. "Hit me with your best shot!" See our photo contest page for details and "fire away".

Sunday Hi: 83 Lo: 58 AM fog and mist followed by times of sun and clouds; A stray shower possible; West wind 5-10 mph

Monday Hi: 85 Lo: 59 Scattered clouds; Slight chance of a t-shower; NW winds 5-10 mph

Tuesday Hi: 84 Lo: 61 Partly cloudy; A better chance for scattered afternoon t-showers; NW winds 5-10 mph

Wednesday Hi: 78 Lo: 59 Partly to mostly cloudy; Several degrees cooler; Look for scattered showers and t-showers

Thursday Hi: 79 Lo: 60 Partly cloudy; Afternoon t-shower chances sticking around

Further Out

Friday - A mix of sun and clouds; A few scattered t-showers expected; High near 80 degrees; Low in the lower 60s
Saturday - Partly sunny; Scattered shower and t-shower chances continue; High in the upper 70s; Low near 60 degrees

Forecast Discussion

A fairly complex weather pattern has setup shop over the eastern third of the nation including the high country. High pressure stretches from the Gulf of Mexico and Florida panhandle northward to the RWC forecast area. Tropical Storm Cristobal, which is a low pressure center, continues to spin off the North Carolina coast. The interaction of these two systems will allow for a pattern similar to yesterday in which will see times of sun and clouds and the possibility of a few stray showers, but certainly nothing widespread.

Temperatures are fairly impressive looking over the next few days with highs expected to reach well into the 80s across much of the high country through Tuesday before falling by several degrees by midweek.

Still of concern is the continued threat of poor air quality and hazy conditions. Until we get a good shot of rain to ultimately clean the atmosphere, poor air quality and hazy conditions are likely, limiting some views of the high country's beautiful terrain.

We'll kick off the new work week with a bit of upper level energy shooting down from the north and west. This upper level trough will then team up with an approaching cold front by Tuesday. We'll carry an isolated shower or t-shower chance for Monday with better chances Tuesday. The cold front will then stall out across the region for much up the new work week allowing shower and storm chances to remain in the forecast each and every afternoon through next weekend. You can expect a scattered of showers and storms - some days, you'll get wet while others you will stay dry - just a typical summertime pattern.

Switching to the tropics, we continue to watch two tropical storms and one area of active verging on tropical weather.

Tropical Storm Bertha is back to tropical storm status and racing to the northeast at 30 mph with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. Bertha, located 670 miles ENE of Cape Race Newfoundland should start losing her tropical characteristics and will soon be only a memory, granted a record setting memory, but something we won't have to mention any longer.

Of more immediate concern is Tropical Storm Cristobal, which is now located at 33.9 N, 77.2 W and is moving to the NE at 6 mph. Packing maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, Cristobal is centered about 60 miles SW of Cape Lookout and 130 miles SW of Cape Hatteras. Tropical Storm warnings remain in effect from north of Little River Inlet to the NC/VA border, including the Pamlico Sound. Today is expected to be another rainy and breezy day along the Outer Banks with rain showers heading inland through parts of the Piedmont and possibly as far west as the foothills and I-77 corridor.

Finally, our tropical wave that we have been watching for days now is continuing to produce squally weather in the western Caribbean. Moving to the WNW at 15-20 mph, heavy rain and gusty winds are expected for Jamaica, parts of Cuba and the Cayman Islands today. Further tropical development is still possible with this wave.

Have a great Sunday!

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RaysWeather.Com continues to grow. We are an "information age" company using the web to broadcast the message but also as a tool for producing the message. RaysWeather.Com (what we call RWC) has evolved from "Ray's hobby in Beautiful Downtown Rutherwood" in 1999 to the most widely read media outlet in NW NC reaching 150,000 to 200,000 people per month and covering the weather from NC/VA line to Asheville and Wolf Laurel. We will continue to grow geographically as well--Roaring Gap has just been added; Waynesville, you're next. The heart of the growth is good data, "local flavor", and THE most reliable forecast.

We recently added our 6th forecaster to the best forecast team ever assembled for this region. It's time for us to introduce "the crew"...

• Dr. Ray Russell is a Computer Science professor at Appalachian State University. His PhD is in Computer Science from Georgia Tech (1989); weather has been a long-time passion. He started posting a "snow forecast" on the university website back in the mid 1990's; this evolved into RaysWeather.Com in 2000. Ray lives in Boone and has taught at Appalachian State since 1991.
• Eric Anderson (RWC's Chief Meteorologist) received his degree in meteorology from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and is a 15-year veteran of NOAA with experience in forecasting, observation and analysis. A native of western North Carolina, Eric's former tenure in the National Weather Service gave him the opportunity to forecast for areas of the Mid-Atlantic region. His professional interests include upslope flow snow events in the southern Appalachians, as well as cold air damming in the Carolinas.
• Alan Simons, born in Fayetteville NC, has a Bachelor of Science in meteorology and almost 20 years of professional experience that includes forecasting for newspapers, websites, radio, aviation, and the military. He first became interested in weather in North Carolina, and RWC takes him back home after a variety of duty stations, from New York to Hawaii. Alan's been with the RWC team since 2003.
• Tim Kirby joined Ray's Weather Center in October 2004 and lives in his hometown of Fries, VA (pronounced Freeze). The folks from this small Grayson County town say "it's freeze in winter and fries in summer". He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology from NC State University. While at NC State, he was president of the NCSU Student Chapter of the American Meteorological Society. Before joining RWC, Tim worked for the National Weather Service for ten years in Raleigh, Chattanooga and Morristown, Tennessee. Tim has always loved the challenge of forecasting and owes his dedication to a childhood fascination of snow (no school!).
• Harold Alston is a N.C. native with Bachelor of Science degrees from both App State (Broadcast Communications) and UNC-Asheville (Meteorology). He has 30 years experience tracking and forecasting NC weather including 15 years experience for media outlets. Nailing down Appalachian wedges & wintry possibilities are his areas of expertise with a lifetime of N.C. weather experiences to reference.
• Jeff Cox, a native of Asheville, is the latest addition to the RWC team. He earned a Bachelor of Sciences in Atmospheric Sciences from UNC-Asheville. At UNC-A, he was the lead forecaster for the school's Weather Forecast Line, campus Radio Station, "The Blue Echo" and the campus newspaper, "The Blue Banner." Jeff has experience as a meteorologist in both television and radio. He spent over 2 years in Macon, GA, as the chief meteorologist at WGXA FOX-24. He also has experience as a radio broadcast meteorologist for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, Georgia.