It's been quite gloomy around the area for much of this week all because of what meteorologists call a cold air wedge. When a cold air wedge is in place it creates overcast skies with periodic showers, it's usually cooler than average and sometimes breezy. What is a cold air wedge? It's also called cold air damming, and it is simply some dense, cool (or cold) air that slides down the eastern side of the Appalachian mountains. The dense air can't get over the mountains, so it's trapped, or dammed up against them. At the same time at about 5000 feet, southerly winds bring in warm, humid, light air that rises over this mound of heavy air. This lifting in the atmosphere creates the blanket of clouds with drizzle and showery weather. It usually takes a front to move through to scour the wedge away, but we have no fronts coming in the short term, so it's probably going to stay gloomy all weekend with many folks getting at least a little bit of rain.
What do you think about the gray skies and showery conditions? Does it put you in a bad mood or do you shift into a lower gear and just want to sleep longer or curl up with a good book?! I like these kinds of days, but after several of them in a row I think I'm over it! Funny how we talk so much about a chance for rain, now all I want to look for is a chance for sunshine!
We'll be thankful for the much needed rain that we receive, though - the Upstate is back into a drought with an official deficit of more than 8.50" for the year. Asheville is in better shape. Hope your weekend is fun and bright - despite the weather!
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