JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Powerful winter storm is now organizing in Eastern North Carolina. The storm system brought us rounds of downpours and rumbles of thunder earlier today. Decent amounts of rainfall, especially west of Jacksonville, where along the Gulf Coast (I-75 areas too) saw between 2-3″ of rain. Locally, we too have seen a few backyards receive up to two inches, but mainly about an inch of rain. It could be the last of any significant rains we should see until the new year, more on that later.
Shorter term, a few lingering showers, are possible through 10 pm tonight, so don’t put away the umbrella just yet.
A cold front will swing through Jacksonville around 10 pm and sweep the remaining showers out to sea and then shift our winds into a northwesterly direction which will reinforce the rather chilly temperatures we saw all day on Wednesday.
Temperatures will slide from the 50s into the 40s and and then the 30s over the next few mornings. Although it doesn’t appear that we will see any freezing temperatures in Jacksonville, by Friday morning, we could see some patchy frost, especially in the normally colder locations.
Again, showers will be gone by 10 p.m. followed by chillier temperatures, with morning lows around 45. Northwest winds to 15 mph.
Thursday will start off with some low clouds and these will be very wintry, low clouds, with just a few rays of sunshine. The clouds will keep us from warming up and Thursday could be one of the chillier afternoons we may see this winter, expect highs around 53° some places in Georgia may stay in the 40s all day long.
By Friday morning, skies clear out and we will see near freezing temperatures mainly west and north of Jacksonville. Expect lows in the mid to upper 30s and some patchy frost. Sunny skies will still be chilly, with highs near 57°.
Weekend outlook more sunshine and a little milder as afternoon highs will be in the mid to upper 60s.