While much of the nation will close October out with fairly cold temperatures, a sliver of warmth will hug the East Coast, keeping temperatures closer to late September/early October normals for the work week. Upper-level disturbances will keep the weather rather unsettled as well, with rain chances Tuesday-Friday before a cold front ushers fall back into the picture for the weekend.

Our abnormally warm and dry September will roll into the first few days of October as strong high pressure aloft remains anchored over the southeast U.S.

Changes are coming, though, and I suspect many of you will be OK with them.

By the time some of you read this, the autumnal equinox will likely have passed (3:09 am), ushering in astronomical Fall. (It’s been meteorological fall since September 1.) Don’t tell that to Ma Nature, though. High pressure aloft is re-establishing itself, ushering us back into what is effectively a very summer-like pattern for the upcoming week.

A warm start to the work week will give way to a taste of fall to close it out. (I mean, my goodness, 82° and fair skies on Thursday? Pinch me!) Plus, no worries about the tropics for the foreseeable future, either. Here’s a look at the week ahead…

The week ahead will continue to feature a late-summer heat wave, especially as we kick off the new work week. Temperatures in the 90s will feel closer to the 100s with humidity with just a slight chance of an afternoon shower or storm to cool things off. Thunderstorm chances kick up as we head into the weekend as a tropical disturbance (more on that in a sec) is set to move through Florida, enhancing moisture in our neck of the woods.

The second half of 2019 will get off to a fairly hot start, with heat indices running in the low 100s each afternoon. Scattered thunderstorms will provide relief, particularly later in the week. (Must be July in Charleston.)

Summer-like weather will continue this week. The heat will really turn on by the end of the week, as we look to flirt with mid-to-upper 90s temperatures across much of the area. Unfortunately, very little heat relief in the way of thunderstorms appears probable after Tuesday.

Today we find ourselves between two fronts: one that will be pushing off the coast (but perhaps not before kicking off a shower or storm or two) and another that will provide what may very well be Spring’s last gasp.

High pressure remains in control of the forecast through Thursday, yielding several quiet weather days. (That sound you hear is the collective sigh of lots of Charleston-area meteorologists who spent much of Friday doing battle with spin-up tornadoes.)

We’ll maintain seasonable conditions through Tuesday as high pressure gradually slips offshore. Southerly flow around the back side of the high turns on the heat pump for Wednesday and Thursday, with highs expected to top out in the upper 80s for the first time this year. A cold front will then approach on Friday, bringing a chance for showers and thunderstorms to the area. Some chance of rain lingers through the weekend, but it’s nothing to toss your plans over.

No fooling: It’s not going to get out of the 50s on Monday. (Nor will it on Tuesday.) The good news is that we may actually see something resembling substantial rainfall across much of the area for the first time all year. Will it be enough to bust the drought?