Overview of current weather conditions
ROANOKE, Va. – The day began calmly with some sunshine, but as time passed, snow became the main weather feature. By this evening, freezing rain and sleet became the name of the game. The entire viewing area is under either a Winter Storm Warning and/or a Winter Weather Advisory.
Anywhere from 0-4.5″ of snow has been reported thus far.
The rest of tonight
Road conditions are particularly concerning, with below-freezing road temperatures likely making for slick travel. Please stay inside as these icy conditions prevail and may worsen through the night. While ice will be the main precipitation type, the Highlands could stay snow for a longer period of time. There will be some breaks in the precipitation overnight, but any lull would be rather short-lived.
Freezing rain, notably hazardous due to its ability to coat roads and power lines, could lead to further complications. This type of precipitation will be closely watched as the night progresses, but as of now, we are looking at seeing anywhere from a trace-0.33″ of ice accumulation.
Monday and the rest of the week
A wintry mix will likely be with us at times on Monday. The precipitation will be a little more intermittent. By Monday morning, the second, main batch of precipitation will be in the process of tapering off. However, another weaker piece of energy may impact parts of the area in the afternoon, bringing mainly areas along and west of the Parkway a little more snow. The entire storm system will pull away close to dinner-time on Monday.
Tuesday through Thursday all look dry under partly to mostly sunny skies. It will be chilly and breezy during this time-frame. We’ll be closely monitoring the possibility of another storm system moving in late this week into the first part of the weekend (late Friday into Saturday). That one could bring us more snow and/or wintry mix. Please stay tuned.
In the meantime, traveling should be minimized to avoid the slick roads. Tune in to future updates from Your Local Weather Authority for more information as the situation develops.
For photos and videos of the storm, visit Pin It at https://www.wsls.com/pinit/.