Forecast Last Updated at Friday, February 10, 2012 at 4:09PM
The Return of Winter
Today's clouds are laying the foundation for a weekend snow event to unfold in 2 stages, beginning tonight. Accumulations by Saturday morning will be a dusting to 1". Saturday's daytime high will be at sunrise; an arctic blast will send temperatures plummeting through Saturday night. We may get a break in precipitation for a few hours Saturday morning, but snow showers will resume Saturday afternoon and Saturday night ending as flurries Sunday morning. See our Snow Accumulation Forecast Graphic for total snow accumulations by Sunday morning. Expect wind and bitterly cold temperatures Saturday afternoon through Sunday. Sunday will be the coldest day of the winter thus far. Monday will be less cold but clouds will increase at night. Another bout of light snow or a light wintry mix will be possible late Monday night into Tuesday.
Friday Hi: 42 Lo: 29  Cloudy; Areas of light snow develop overnight; SW wind 5-15 mph becoming NW 10-20 mph & gusty later tonight  |
Saturday Hi: 29 Lo: 10 Mostly cloudy; Falling temperatures; Snow showers especially in the afternoon & at night; AM wind NW 10-20 mph with gusts to 30 mph; PM wind NW 20-30 mph with gusts to 50 mph |
Sunday Hi: 24 Lo: 17 AM flurries then sunshine; Very cold; NW wind 15-25 mph with AM gusts to 45 mph |
Monday Hi: 37 Lo: 28 Increasing clouds late; Light snow or light wintry mix late Monday night |
Tuesday Hi: 37 Lo: 31 Cloudy; Light snow or light wintry mix of rain, sleet, and snow |
Further Out
Wednesday - Scattered clouds; Seasonal temperatures; High in the mid 40s; Low in the lower 30s
Thursday - Becoming cloudy again; Rain possible by late day & at night (some freezing rain possible east near the Blue Ridge); High in the mid 40s; Low in the lower 30s
Forecast Discussion
Low pressure tracks today from Texas into the Southeast. Meanwhile, an arctic front is moving southeast out of the Great Plains. Clouds will quickly overspread the region today. Expect light snow tonight to develop from the west. Snow accumulations tonight will be generally 1" or less but more comes later Saturday.
Saturday, arctic air arrives. Daytime highs will be at sunrise with falling temperatures and gusty winds. Snow showers will be in the region especially in Saturday afternoon and Saturday night. Snow showers will end as flurries Sunday morning. Total snow accumulation from tonight to Sunday morning will be less than 1" on the eastern edge of the Appalachians (including eastern Ashe and Alleghany Counties), 1"-3" for most of the mountain region, and 3"-6" at higher elevations right along the TN/NC line. A report or two on mountaintops right along the state line may exceed 6". See our Snow Accumulation Forecast Graphic for details.
Wind and cold will be increasing factors Saturday afternoon through Sunday. Saturday night and Sunday morning will be the coldest we have seen all winter. Skies become mostly clear Sunday afternoon in spite of those cold temperatures.
The next weak system will quickly approach Monday night. Monday will be chilly with increasing clouds by evening. Light snow or a wintry mix of light rain, sleet, and snow will be possible late Monday night and Tuesday.
Wednesday into Thursday will be less cold overall. But yet another low will zip across the Southeast Thursday night with rain possible (a period of freezing rain is possible along the Blue Ridge late Thursday or Thursday night).
Announcements
Fitness & Nutrition Articles
The fitness and nutrition articles previously appearing in this space now appear under the Health and Fitness item in the Outdoor Living Menu above. It's complete with a before and after photo comparison.
Using information from RaysWeather.Com
First, all data and forecasts on RaysWeather.Com are the intellectual property of RaysWeather.com, Inc. Here is our usage policy regarding rebroadcast or redistribution of any information from our site...
"The reader is not permitted to reproduce, retransmit, redistribute any weather data, forecasts, analysis, image, or any other product from this site to any other person or entity, in any format by any means. All information, data, and images contained on any page of this site are copyrighted by RaysWeather.Com, Inc. (unless otherwise noted) and is the property of RaysWeather.Com, Inc. Information, data, and images from this site may not be archived or stored for future use. Exceptions to this condition of use may only be made by express, written permission of RaysWeather.Com." See our Terms and Conditions page.
In short, if you do not have a written agreement with us to do so, you do not have permission to republish any information found on this site. If you work for a media entity (TV, radio, website, newspaper, etc.) and wish to republish information from this site, please contact us at ray@raysweather.com or call our offices at 828.264.2030.
