Taste of Winter...
Hard to believe with temps in the mid 50s right now that later tonight most will experience their first taste of Winter...but it true. A cold front is bisecting the State right now...out ahead of it southerly winds and balmy temps, behind it westerly winds and tumbling temps. The front is quite active with a strip of moisture that extends from Maine to Texas with all types of precip along it. The front will clear the coast by late morning and temps will start their slide. It will take all day long for the 30s to arrive so no worries with wintry precip today but later tonight with the final wave of moisture rain will begin to flip to sleet and snow. Timing will be critical...how fast will the cold get in...will the precip shutdown before enough cold arrives...these timing issues make a snow forecast difficult. There certainly won't be shortage of moisture with the plume rushing up from the Gulf of Mexico so there is potential for a few inches of snow before the storm pulls out of here very early tomorrow morning. Due to today's warmth and wet ground snow amounts in the Metro area should range from coatings to an inch...but from around 495, north and west, 1-3 inches of snow is likely with locally higher amounts in the hills.
Following the storm clearing will commence first thing tomorrow morning and Winter's chill will return as well with highs going from around 40 Saturday to around 35 on Sunday.
With the cold air establishing itself again and another storm on the way Sunday night and Monday will once again get messy. The atmosphere will be cold enough for all snow at the onset...Late Sunday night...but the cold will gradually get chewed away changing snow to ice and rain on Monday morning. It's looking like another tricky forecast but after a couple of inches of snow, a layer of ice is likely inland creating major travel issues during the Monday morning commute. Along the coast there will be less of an impact...again, a couple of inches of snow followed by rain with very little if any ice. Either way, Monday morning looks slow and messy.
Enjoy the weekend!
