A few patchy clouds are lingering in across the north and east parts of eastern North Carolina late this Friday evening but most of us are clear with the bright full moon shining above us. The clouds that are over parts of the east should continue to move away and we should become clear everywhere overnight. The air is dry but there is plenty of surface moisture from recent rains so some patches of low ground fog will be possible in the rural highway corridors and near bodies of standing water (ponds, lakes, creeks, drainage ditches and low spots). Low temps will be chilly tonight with 42-46 expected inland, 46-50 on the rivers and sounds and 50-54 along the beaches. The normal low temp this time of year is 61. A steady dry north/northwest breeze will hold up at 5-15 mph gusting to 20 making the chilly temps feel even cooler.

You will have the chance to see three bright planets in the evening sky tonight (won’t see this again until October, 2015). Venus, Jupiter and Mercury will form a bright triangle just after sunset on the western horizon. Let the setting sun be your guide where to look. They will be the three brightest objects in the evening sky and will all be close together. They will be visible tonight and Saturday night and then will be brightest on Sunday night as the three planets will be closest together and then will be visible but not as bright on Monday and Tuesday night as they separate and move away from each other. They will be so bright that they should be visible in urban areas (in town where there are street lights) where we don’t normally see so much of the sky because of light pollution.

Saturday looks to be sunny, breezy and cool. We may see a few high clouds drift across the sun at times but for the most part it should be a sunny blue sky day. The wind from the northwest will blow at 10-15 mph making for a breezy day and high temps will only make it to around 60 at the beach and 72-76 on the mainland. The normal high temp for this time of year is 82.

Sunday night should be mostly clear with lows in the upper 40s.

Memorial Day Monday will start off mostly sunny but then it becomes a mix of sun and clouds by afternoon with an ever so slight chance for a seabreeze shower or thunderstorm. The high temp will be around 80.

…..skip waters…..