Morning Clouds, Afternoon Sun – Near-Record Heat Ahead for East Tennessee Before Sunday Storms

The wind is back my friends!
A tight pressure gradient will set up today bringing in a southerly wind of 10-20 mph and gusting to 40-50 mph in the higher elevations of the Plateau and the Smoky Mountains.
That southerly flow, combined with a building upper level ridge, will bring us above average temperatures. We’ll be nearly 10-15 degrees above average today. Highs make it to the mid to upper 70s.
We also have a level 1 and 2 risk for severe storms. However, at this time, I don’t anticipate anything to fire up. But, if we do, it will likely go severe with all the severe weather ingredients in place.
Keep an eye to the sky and the Interactive Radar using the eastTNweather app.

With a very pronounced trough/ridge pattern setting up across the country, severe weather is expected to break out across the state of Tennessee and the region. 
A rare HIGH RISK has been issued by the Storm Prediction Center for the Mid-Mississippi River Valley. Large, long track tornadoes are expected in this area. A very serious situation is taking shape there. With that said, we are under a level 1 & 2 risk, but I really don’t anticipate much activity. If, and that’s a big old IF, we see anything fire up today or tonight, it would become severe. We have all the ingredients in place, but we really don’t have a lifting mechanism.
Stay tuned if you live in East Tennessee.
Out west, the storms will fire along a frontal boundary late this afternoon and through the overnight hours.

DOWNLOAD THE eastTNweather APP to track this severe weather event and to stay informed if you have family or friends in this risk area.

BIG TIME RAIN IS ON THE WAY
We will have a stuck pattern as a big ridge of high pressure 

Looking past the 7 Day Forecast, the Climate Prediction Center has issues a forecast based on probabilities.
These maps don’t show you how far above or below, but rather an idea of how strong the signal is.