Arrival of snow showers and wind
ROANOKE, Va. – The wind for most of Wednesday was relatively calm. That is no longer the case. The wind has strengthened over the last few hours and is not gusting over 40 mph in some of our backyards. And the wind will stay on the strong side through the early part of the weekend.
Cold air from the north is moving in, originating from Canada, which could bring some snow showers to higher elevations as soon as the next 24 hours. This pattern is expected to set the stage for some snow occasional snow squalls through Friday night or Saturday morning.
A northwest flow is bringing lake effect snow from the Great Lakes down into portions of our area. Our first prolonged west slope snow event is on the way. West Virginia’s Pocahontas and Greenbrier counties may experience as much as 8 to 12+ inches of snow, especially near Snowshoe. While some spillover will occur into parts of the Highlands and NRV as well.
Temperature changes and cold conditions
Temperatures are already dropping...and doing so pretty rapidly. Expect a significant temperature drop as we move into Thursday and Friday. The chill will feel more pronounced due to the wind, with wind chills feeling like the 10s and 20s by Thursday night and Friday morning.
A little warm-up is expected this weekend leading into early next week, giving us a break from this winter feel.
Ongoing and future weather patterns
Once the upslope snow showers end Saturday morning, the rest of the weekend looks dry under partly to mostly sunny skies. We’ll likely see a little more sun east and a little more cloud cover west to start the weekend. Early next week looks dry with a few showers potentially returning to the forecast on Tuesday and/or Wednesday.