ROANOKE, Va. – You know it’s been cold lately when the 40s feel warm, but that’s been the case these last two days.
A cold front passing through the area creates a temperature differential from west to east Tuesday afternoon. Highs range from the upper 30s and lower 40s in the mountains to 50s in Lynchburg and Southside.
While the wind won’t be howling, gusts of 15-25 mph will be possible throughout the day Tuesday and into early Wednesday morning, leading to bitter wind chills (see above) behind our front Wednesday morning.
Highs Wednesday will only make it into the 20s and 30s despite ample sunshine.
Afternoon temperatures rise into the 40s by Friday ahead of potential winter weather. A full-blown Nor’Easter is expected to develop off the East Coast heading into Saturday, as tropical moisture gets thrown up toward New England.
Before we get there, however, there’s enough “phasing” between the cold air and storm energy to produce a chance of snow in our area Friday evening into early Saturday morning.
At the moment, it appears as though the odds of a 6″+ snowfall in our area are very low. It would take a dramatic shift west to produce anything quite that significant here.
While forecast data continues to get its act together, the best we can describe our snow potential is “light to moderate.” Any potential numbers would come out in the next day or so.
The heaviest snow associated with this storm will target parts of New England and the Northeast.
As that storm strengthens, however, don’t sleep on the cold and wind. It will get very windy Friday night and Saturday with Saturday’s highs only being in the 20s and 30s.