Midweek rain chances for Columbus area, will it help relieve the drought?

QUICK WEATHER FORECAST:

• Tonight: Clouds building, low 60
• Tuesday: Isolated showers east, high 82
• Wednesday: Spotty showers, high 82
• Thursday: Partly cloudy, high 83
• Friday: More sunshine, high 86

FORECAST DISCUSSION:

Good Monday evening!

It's been a sunny and warm start to the work week! As we go into the next couple of days, we'll see some small changes to the forecast, hopefully providing an end to the stretch of dry weather we've been stuck with!

Off the Carolina coast, Potential Tropical Cyclone Eight continues to churn off the coast. The window for it strengthening into a stronger system continues to close, but the moisture from it will move close to the Midwest by the middle of the week.

We'll see more clouds move in through the overnight hours and into the start of Tuesday. By the afternoon and evening hours, we'll see some very isolated showers. Those will continue to taper going into Tuesday night with a few more on the way through Wednesday.

The best chance for rain will remain in areas southeast of I-71. In regards to totals, it really won't be a lot. Most of the areas that see rain might pick up 1/100th of an inch with some lucky places getting 1/10th. With as little rain as we'll see, and given how it will fall over areas with the most intense drought, the wet weather will likely not make much of a dent in the dry conditions.

By Thursday, we're back to partly cloudy and dry skies. Going into this upcoming weekend, temperatures will warm back up to the mid to upper 80s. Skies will continue to gradually clear to give us more sunshine by Saturday.

-Joe