Weekend Wintry Mix

• Scattered Showers Today
• Rain/Windy Saturday PM
• Wintry Mix Saturday Night – Sunday
  • Snow for the mountains
    • 2-6″ below 3500′
    • 6-10″ above 3500′
  • Rain/Snow Mis for the Foothills
    • Up to 2″
  • Rain w/ snow briefly mixing in south of I-40
    • No snow accumulation
    • 1-2″ of rain
• Windy Saturday PM – Sunday w/ gusts 40+mph

What a doozy of a forecast we have coming up. Let’s start with the easy stuff. Cold front will weaken and shift south of the region today. Expect scattered showers and temps in the mid 60s. We’ll have a lull in the rain for the first half of the day Saturday. Clouds will keep temps above average but cooler than this morning – the low to mid 40s. Wind will pick up Saturday out of the NE 10-20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph possible. Temps will top out in the mid 50s.

A low pressure system will push in out of the south and hug the coast. Cold air will already be in place across the mountains with a quick transition from rain to snow for the high country Saturday night into Sunday. The backside of this low will bring in colder temperatures. With plenty of moisture we could see a big burst of snow for the mountains with 6-10″+ above 3500′. The question remains how far inland the low moves. As of now, we will likely see a rain/snow mix even into the foothills with up to 2″ possible. Most areas will see just trace amounts of snow. Outside of I-40 we could see some wet flakes mixing in Sunday morning, but no accumulations. The rain will be heavy and it will remain cold with temps only reaching the mid 40s Sunday, after starting the day in the mid 30s. We could see 1 to up to 2.5″ of rainfall across the Piedmont with localized flooding a concern Sunday. Winds will howl out of the NW with gusts up to 40 mph possible. The low will move away from the Carolinas by Sunday night.

Drying out early next week. Highs will reach the upper 50s Monday under mostly sunny skies. Beautiful for everyone with Valentine’s Day plans on Tuesday. Highs will reach the low 60s by Tuesday under mostly sunny skies. We will need to keep an eye on things late week. Temps will warm to near 70, but the weather will likely be unsettled with rain and storms possible.