A glimpse of Fall weather through Saturday for the region

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Dry and warm, but gradually cooling conditions through Friday morning. The building upper level ridge will drive the surface high southward across the  East Coast. At the same time, moisture from Imelda has moved out of the area. High temperature today will be in the 70s with northeast flow and dewpoints will be in the sweet spot near 50 degrees. Overall, pleasant conditions. With the lack of precipitation any drought conditions are not likely to improve through the early weekend. Although a few spots have received locally heavy rainfall of 2 inches over the past week, rain has not been consistent or widespread enough to inhibit drying. A high pressure regime defines the first part of our forecast, with an upper level ridge sliding over much of eastern U.S. and surface high pressure over the northeast slowly drifting towards the Mid-Atlantic. A tight pressure gradient between the high and Imelda will keep breezy northeasterly low level flow in place across the area through the weekend, with speeds between 8-12 mph with gusts up to 20 mph. The influence of high pressure will also keep conditions dry and rain-free on Friday and Saturday. Lows on Friday will be the coolest of the week, starting the morning in the mid to upper 50s across most of the area. High temperatures on Friday and Saturday afternoon will rise into the upper 70s or low 80s.  Late Saturday into Sunday, low level moisture will begin to increase, with dewpoints rising into the low to mid 60s by Saturday afternoon and upper 60s to low 70s by Sunday. Models  continue to come into better agreement regarding the development of a weak surface low in the northern Gulf by Sunday, although uncertainty remains with respect to its evolution and  movement. The presence of such a low could spread additional moisture into Middle and north Georgia on its northeastern side and lead to a return of rain chances on Sunday and into the early parts of next week.