The rain got as close as Franklin and Smyrna this morning on the fringes of Ida’s moisture.  That was great for our live broadcasts of News 2 This Morning in downtown Nashville (in conjunction with CMA and Good Morning America).   Meanwhile, it is quite wet in our southern and eastern counties.   The back edge of the rain will slowly ease eastward, but will take its time to exit the eastern areas of Middle Tennessee.

Meanwhile, there is a back edge of the cloud line in Tennessee that is also moving slowly eastward as now Tropical Depression “Ida” drifts  to the east near Pensacola, FL.  Our northwestern areas, like Clarksville, are in the sunshine.  Sunset is early now (4:42pm), so it will be touch and go to get some sunshine in Nashville before dark, but we may get lucky late this afternoon.  Our west and northwest counties will enjoy the afternoon sun for sure.

As the remnants of Ida come ashore and move eastward on Tuesday, expect the fringe rains to push into Middle Tennessee, particularly from Nashville south and east.  Temperatures will be held down to the mid 60s with the clouds and showers, and maintain 60s through Wednesday behind a cold front which will cool night time temps to 40s Wednesday morning and upper 30s Thursday morning.

As for the Gulf Coast, Ida lost its hurricane strength overnight due to some drier air being entrained into the system, along with some wind shear.  Residents along the coast will have a “nuisance” on their hands today and tomorrow with rain and gusty winds, but certainly no Katrina or Ivan.  Yesterday, I told my brother in Pensacola that he didn’t have to move his sailboat to a more secure location, and my parents certainly don’t have to evacuate New Orleans!

After a partly cloudy night with temps dropping to the upper 40s to near 50, clouds will be on the increase on Monday with highs in the low 70s. 

By Tuesday, we anticipate rain from what will be the remnants of Hurricane “Ida”.  As mentioned before, there is one model that forecasts 2-3″ of rain for parts of the mid state.  Other models are in the neighborhood of one half to one inch of rain.  The later seems more likely.

Enjoy another great day today with temperatures reaching the mid 70 this afternoon in the sunshine. 

Tomorrow will still be a fairly nice day, but clouds will be on the increase during the afternoon hours.  Highs should still reach the 70s.

However, on Tuesday we may see some rains from what will be the remnants of Hurricane Ida.  Some models forecast 2-3″ of rain, while others only see 1/2-1″.  We will keep you updated on that. 

For our friends along the Gulf Coast, this is not going to be a major hurricane, but still could have some hurricane force gusts despite becoming an e”xtra-tropical cyclone” by then.

 In our previous entry, we mentioned how Sunday’s weather would be a repeat of Saturday’s, and maybe a degree or two warmer.   Enjoy it!

If you click on the video forecast to the right, you will see that Tropical Storm Ida in the western Caribbean is expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico and near the Florida Panhandle by Tuesday.  By the time it nears shore, it should only be an extra-tropical low. 

We may see the “fringes” of the moisture from the remnants of Ida, especially in our southeastern counties on Tuesday.  We’ll keep you posted.

Temperatures soared to 74 degrees in Nashville this afternoon, 12 degrees above normal!  The abundant sunshine didn’t hurt.  What a fantastic day it was.  However, with the sun now set, temps are cooling down rapidly and will drop to upper 40s by daybreak in the city, with some mid 40s north and east of town.

However, after the cool start, Sunday should be a copy of Saturday, maybe a degree or two warmer!  Enjoy it.  After all it is November and this can’t last forever!