Frigid Friday morning, wet & wintry weekend ahead
Warm air to the east and dry air to the west will make it difficult for snow totals to reach an inch across our area through Sunday.
Happy Friday! The coldest air we’ve seen so far this year has arrived this morning, as lows sink into the single digits, teens, and lower 20s. Highs remain on the chilly side, but will be warmer than Thursday, as they rise into the 30s and 40s across the board this afternoon. The cold air sticks around through Saturday morning, setting the stage for the first of two potential rounds of wintry weather this holiday weekend as a cold front sweeps into the Carolinas. Don’t expect any accumulations outside of the High Country, but light scattered rain around the Metro Saturday morning could yield to a few wet flakes mixing in along and north of I-40. Snow totals likely end up between ½-2″ above 3000′ in Ashe, Avery, and Watauga counties.
Once the front moves through, temperatures ironically warm into the mid-50s around the Metro before the cold air finally begins to settle in overnight into Sunday. That said, lows only hover right around freezing by the time a coastal low develops along the passing front and rides it northeast. This means that a wet mix or cold rain is likely south of I-85 as temperatures warm near 40°, while those along and north of the I-85 corridor may be fortunate to see some wet flakes. Multiple problems with this system will hinder a bona fide snow event for the WCCB Charlotte viewing area, especially with dry, downsloping winds coming down the Appalachians that will eat into any snow that develops on the northwestern side of the moisture. That said, some minor accumulations are still very much on the table, although we’ll be hard-pressed to see anything more than 1″.
Regardless of what happens on Sunday, bitterly cold air spills back into the Carolinas by our MLK Monday morning, with lows sliding back down into the single digits, teens, and lower 20s. Highs will recover near 50° around the Metro in the afternoon, but temperatures likely remain below average through the first half of the holiday-shortened workweek ahead. Rain (and snow) chances remain few and far between for the following five days after Sunday.
