NYC COLD CONTINUES SOUTH SNOWSTORM PREP BEGINS
Good morning everyone. Sunny and cold conditions remain locked in the New York City area for a good stretch, helping to steer all of the action well south of us. Major southern cities such as Charlotte, NC could get in on the action in terms of relatively big snows, but the forecast remains complicated for parts of their area.
EASTERN SATELLITE
For our area, theres not much to discuss in terms of excitement. Expect mid to upper 30’s and sunny conditions today through mid-week next week. Our coldest night of this period will actually be tonight, with lows dropping into the low to mid 20’s; possibly some upper teens to near 20 in outlying areas.
Other than that, theres not much going on till next weekend, where we will most likely find ourselves in the “warm sector” of a rather large system; and that means big rain at some point.
REGIONAL RADAR
For areas down south, a juicy Gulf low will emerge and head along the Southeast region of the Country. Cold air dug in will meet this moisture and create havoc for mountainous and piedmont areas of South Carolina, North Carolina, and maybe extreme southwest Virginia.
The focus of the heaviest snow though will mostly be in North Carolina. Cities such as Asheville and Statesville, NC could see 1-2 feet of the white stuff; meanwhile, Charlotte NC has a big problem on its hands with the prospect of heavy wet snow and mixed precip.
Charlotte and the Waxhaw area will be dancing on that line between big accumulations and more of a mixed precip event, so we’ll have to watch very closely. As of now for this area, look for 4-8+” of heavy, wet snow, with periods of mixed precip prior to and after the bulk of the accumulating snow. This will caused havoc travel-wise due to the lack of snow removal and snow treatment equipment in many of these areas away from mountainous areas such as Asheville.
So far, the timing/forecast for Charlotte and the Waxhaws look like this –
Expect some light rain tomorrow by mid to late afternoon. This is part of the system but not the main part. Cold air protecting the Northeast will help stretch out and compress this system affecting the south, making precip begin well ahead of the core of the system itself.
Any rain should change to snow overnight tomorrow. If it’s heavy enough, it’ll accumulate quickly even though the roads will initially be wet. Remember, unlike up here, roads are untreated and will freeze quickly. This will also create a thin layer of ice underneath the accumulating snow.
Snow will continue into Sunday morning, then may have varying amounts of sleet and rain mixed in depending on what side of that line Charlotte finds itself in. This will continue into Sunday night and possibly into Monday.
There will be several parts of this system, so be mindful that all of the action may not come at once. However and again, the bulk of the accumulating snow will most likely be tomorrow night into Sunday unless the rain/snow line shifts more south and east.
My best advice as we’ve seen in the past is just stay off the roads. Snow in the south is different than snow up here. The infrastructure in place simply cannot handle it and travel is even more dangerous than up here. Mark my word we will see 10-100 car accidents littered everywhere if people try to travel.
Stay tuned as we fine-tune the forecast for the area, specifically Charlotte/Waxhaw which will be the most complicated.
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