ROANOKE, Va. – The coldest January since 2018 is over, and February is picking up right where it left off.
Tuesday starts in the 20s. The combination of high pressure over New England and low pressure to its south will wedge us in with more cloud cover at times Tuesday, keeping a lid on temperatures.
Highs mostly reach the low to mid 40s during the afternoon Tuesday.
The wedge tries to loosen up a bit Wednesday, affording temperatures the opportunity to rise a bit more.
As a warm front lifts north, moisture overruns that and gives us the chance for some showers at times late Wednesday night and Thursday. The bulk of our rain comes in as a cold front moves in from the west early Friday.
Temperatures rise into the 50s (60s Southside) Thursday evening into Friday morning before falling the rest of the day Friday.
It’s possible that temperatures fall enough for some freezing rain on the back end of the storm Friday evening. Any chance of that would be farther north.
This front stalls east, and provides a boundary for perhaps another storm system Sunday. If this were to form, it would become wintry. That’s about the extent of what we know five days out.
A few pieces need to come together, and the forecast data is struggling with how they’ll do that.
You know the drill by this point. The closer we get, the more we know. Stay with us for updates!
The pattern through next week has the chance to turn active for a day or two. The reason for this is a positive phase in the Pacific-North American oscillation.
This is where a ridge of high pressure sets up over the western U.S., which favors a cold and more active storm track in the Eastern U.S.