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Temperature turnaround comes before probable late week snow

Lighter snow totals will be possible before our late week storm turns to a full-blown Nor’Easter

ROANOKE, Va. – Tuesday was the warmest day for many of us in about two weeks, but a cold front has come through and changed that.

High temperatures Wednesday will mostly reach the 30s with Canadian high pressure moving closer to the area.

High temperature forecast for Wednesday, 1/26/2022

With a calm wind at night and a clear sky overhead, temperatures will then fall into the teens by first thing Thursday morning.

Overnight temperature forecast heading into Thursday morning, 1/27/2022

Thursday remains dry, as does much of the daylight hours Friday. A storm system will move in from the Rockies, and it will have enough cold air to work with Friday evening into Saturday morning.

This means snow is probable across our area, but it doesn’t appear as though this is “the big one” for us. Snow would start as “wet” but then turn more powdery as temperatures continue to drop.

Snow chances increasing in southwest and central Virginia starting Friday evening

A temperature difference between land and sea will force this storm to intensify along the coast and up into New England.

Temperature difference between land and sea to lead to storm intensification

That’s where we expect the greatest chance of 6″ of snow or more.

Heaviest snow near the coast and into New England this weekend

Here at home, most forecast data is leaning toward a solution of about 1 to 3″ depending on the storm’s exact location. (Our first call snow map will come out later in the day Wednesday.)

This is enough to make the roads slick and covered, but likely not the kind of storm that shuts us down.

Snow probabilities for late Friday into early Saturday

Beyond Saturday morning, this strengthening storm will mean high winds at times for us and high temperatures only in the 20s and lower 30s.

Temperatures bounce back to the 40s by early next week.