Stalled front prompts rain threat this week, weekend

A stationary storm front sliced through the state on a diagonal from the northwest counties down to southeast counties on the coast. That front will help funnel storms into the region for the rest of the week.

"This is going ot be our pattern for today, tomorrow, really all the way into Saturday," said WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner. "This front is just going to sit here, and the moisture is going to ride right along it."

On Tuesday, small showers will pop up throughout the day, but more widespread rain will hold off until the early evening, Gardner said.

"Timing these little disturbances coming through is a little difficult," Gardner said. "But I do expect that this afternoon—several of the computer models do show that about the time of the evening commute that band of rain coming on through."

The chance of rain dips to 25 percent from 1 to 3 p.m. but rises to 40 percent by 5 p.m.

Gardner said because of the incoming front and varying cloud, do not expect temperatures to remain constant this week.

"These temperatures tell a pretty amazing story with much cooler temperatures than we're use to this time of year," Gardner said.

"This tells you what impact sunshine has as we get into May. As the sun comes out later, it will warm things up pretty quickly. But we're stuck in the cloud cover right now."

Temperatures will fluctuate all week, topping out in the mid-60s on Tuesday, spiking to near 80 on Wednesday and Thursday, and dropping back into the 60s for the end of the week.