“Honey, Where’s the Umbrella?” <—– This line was spoken throughout many houses/homes/apartments/dwellings today (including mine)… because we really haven’t had much use for the ol’ umbrella for quite sometime. 
Well, Mr. Umbrella will earn his/her paycheck this weekend, as we are expecting wet weather to be with us through at least Monday. I know, I know… WHY on the WEEKEND?? Well, maybe just think of those lovely, dry weekend days we had almost all summer long – and remember that we’re in a drought and we need every drop we can get.
Scattered showers are moving through this evening, and will continue to do so. These showers are tracking from the south to the north and will occasionally bring through some heavier showers/bands of rain. During just this evening, Nantucket picked up 0.88″ of rain and this is just the beginning. I do expect the heaviest rain to fall overnight tonight into the first half of Saturday. There’s a chance that showers could break apart tomorrow afternoon to bring more intermittent scattered showers and times of drizzle. Sunday still looks wet, but more drizzle than steady rain. Bottom line: This weekend is a wet one, but Saturday will be the wetter of the two. When all is said and done, we could be looking at widespread totals 0.75″-1.50″ with heavier hit areas around 2″+.
This weekend, it’s not just about the wet weather but also how cool and breezy it will be. Tomorrow will likely even be windy at times, gusts around 35mph are possible. While this wouldn’t normally cause concern for damage, the trees and branches are stressed by drought conditions and are prone to snap more easily.
We would love to see you at the Making Strides Walk on Sunday morning! I will be there, as well as Kim Khazei who hosts the event and several other 7Newsers that will be participating in the 2 or 5 mile stroll on the Esplanade. It’s a rolling start from 8-10am, so just show up and be sure to wear your pink! The event will be held rain-or-shine… or more appropriately, “drizzle-or-rain,” so make sure you dress accordingly. We’ll see you there!
We could still get a few showers on Monday… and even into Tuesday. However, I’m also hopeful that we can get some proof that the sun still exists by Tuesday, late in the day. Past that, the forecast looks uncertain. A lot of the uncertainty is due to the fact that it’s near impossible to nail down a track for Hurricane Matthew. This Cat 4 storm is quite a BEAST, now located about 85 miles north of Columbia. It dropped 44mb in pressure since this time last night!! Hurricane Matthew is currently tracking to the WSW, but is expected to take a sharp turn toward the north and track through Jamaica (Western Haiti also likely affected), then Cuba and continue on this Northern Path. Here’s the official forecast from the NHC (National Hurricane Center) issued at 5pm this evening:
So, now everyone’s question is “is it headed this way?” It’s a possibility. That is to say, it’s one hand in a deck of cards – so it’s worth watching very closely. I know, I’ve seen the latest runs of the GFS… but I’m not ready to go there yet. Here’s the exact wording from the NHC:
“It is important to remind users that average NHC track forecast errors are around 175 miles at day 4 and 230 miles at day 5. Therefore, it is too soon to rule out possible hurricane impacts from Matthew in Florida.”
That means it’s way too early to call. As always, stay tuned. We’ll be watching closely. – Breezy