Forecast Last Updated at Friday, July 4, 2008 at 6:59AM

Happy Independence Day!

The weather will be cooperative for the most part this Fourth of July, although we will have to dodge a late-day thundershower or two. Humidity levels will be noticeably higher later today, and this will set the stage for a rather active shower and thunderstorm pattern for the weekend and beyond.

The 2009 Ray's Weather Calendar Photo Contest is underway. It will run through July 31 with winners to be chosen by the middle of August. "Hit me with your best shot!" See our photo contest page for details and "fire away".

Friday Hi: 89 Lo: 66 Partly cloudy & becoming more humid; A shower or thunderstorm possible late this afternoon or evening; Light SW wind

Saturday Hi: 86 Lo: 66 Partly to mostly cloudy; An afternoon shower or thunderstorm is likely; Humid; Light & variable wind

Sunday Hi: 85 Lo: 66 Partly to mostly cloudy; An afternoon shower or t-storm is likely; South wind 5-10 mph

Monday Hi: 86 Lo: 67 Mix of clouds & sun; Scattered PM thunder; Humid

Tuesday Hi: 87 Lo: 67 Partly cloudy; Scattered PM showers & t-storms

Further Out

Wednesday - Partly cloudy & continued humid; More PM thunder around; High in the upper 80s; Low in the upper 60s
Thursday - Sunshine mixed with clouds; More afternoon thunder chances; High in the upper 80s; Low in the upper 60s

Forecast Discussion

Moisture levels are on the rise today, and this will create a bit more unstable air mass across the Carolinas by late this afternoon. Scattered clouds will build a bit more during the afternoon, and a couple thundershowers will dot the landscape into the early evening hours. Firework viewing looks good for the most part, but nature's fireworks might mix with the manmade kind for a few spots.

A frontal zone extending from the Mid-Atlantic coast southwestward into Arkansas will nudge a little bit closer to the Carolinas, pulling up stationary just north and west of the state over the weekend. This will further enhance the shower and thunderstorm production here in the western part of the state, so that there will be a likelihood for afternoon showers and thunderstorms both Saturday and Sunday.

We're going to stay in a rather typical July weather pattern for much of next week, featuring muggy conditions with daily opportunities for mostly PM thunderstorms.

Tropical Storm Bertha continues chugging westward in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean, and is no threat to land areas at this time.

Announcements

RaysWeather.Com continues to grow. We are an "information age" company using the web to broadcast the message but also as a tool for producing the message. RaysWeather.Com (what we call RWC) has evolved from "Ray's hobby in Beautiful Downtown Rutherwood" in 1999 to the most widely read media outlet in NW NC reaching 150,000 to 200,000 people per month and covering the weather from NC/VA line to Asheville and Wolf Laurel. We will continue to grow geographically as well--Burnsville has just been added; Waynesville, you're next. The heart of the growth is good data, "local flavor", and THE most reliable forecast.

We recently added our 6th forecaster to the best forecast team ever assembled for this region. It's time for us to introduce "the crew"...

• Dr. Ray Russell is a Computer Science professor at Appalachian State University. His PhD is in Computer Science from Georgia Tech (1989); weather has been a long-time passion. He started posting a "snow forecast" on the university website back in the mid 1990's; this evolved into RaysWeather.Com in 2000. Ray lives in Boone and has taught at Appalachian State since 1991.
• Eric Anderson (RWC's Chief Meteorologist) received his degree in meteorology from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and is a 15-year veteran of NOAA with experience in forecasting, observation and analysis. A native of western North Carolina, Eric's former tenure in the National Weather Service gave him the opportunity to forecast for areas of the Mid-Atlantic region. His professional interests include upslope flow snow events in the southern Appalachians, as well as cold air damming in the Carolinas.
• Alan Simons, born in Fayetteville NC, has a Bachelor of Science in meteorology and almost 20 years of professional experience that includes forecasting for newspapers, websites, radio, aviation, and the military. He first became interested in weather in North Carolina, and RWC takes him back home after a variety of duty stations, from New York to Hawaii. Alan's been with the RWC team since 2003.
• Tim Kirby joined Ray's Weather Center in October 2004 and lives in his hometown of Fries, VA (pronounced Freeze). The folks from this small Grayson County town say "it's freeze in winter and fries in summer". He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology from NC State University. While at NC State, he was president of the NCSU Student Chapter of the American Meteorological Society. Before joining RWC, Tim worked for the National Weather Service for ten years in Raleigh, Chattanooga and Morristown, Tennessee. Tim has always loved the challenge of forecasting and owes his dedication to a childhood fascination of snow (no school!).
• Harold Alston is a N.C. native with Bachelor of Science degrees from both App State (Broadcast Communications) and UNC-Asheville (Meteorology). He has 30 years experience tracking and forecasting NC weather including 15 years experience for media outlets. Nailing down Appalachian wedges & wintry possibilities are his areas of expertise with a lifetime of N.C. weather experiences to reference.
• Jeff Cox, a native of Asheville, is the latest addition to the RWC team. He earned a Bachelor of Sciences in Atmospheric Sciences from UNC-Asheville. At UNC-A, he was the lead forecaster for the school's Weather Forecast Line, campus Radio Station, "The Blue Echo" and the campus newspaper, "The Blue Banner." Jeff has experience as a meteorologist in both television and radio. He spent over 2 years in Macon, GA, as the chief meteorologist at WGXA FOX-24. He also has experience as a radio broadcast meteorologist for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, Georgia.

So now you know who's behind the forecast. It's not magic--just lots of hard work by many people. In addition to meteorology, keeping RWC going requires office mangement, programming, computer system's administration, ad sales, and graphic design. We'll introduce you to the rest of the team soon.