Friday, December 4, 2009
A Taste of Wintry Weather Tomorrow...
A cold rain will spread over the region from the south during the wee hours of the morning as low pressure develops along the coast. The rain will continue through much of Saturday, mixing with some snow well west of Interstate 95. As the storm moves north-northeast and pulls away from the area, colder air will continue to take hold. As our temperature profile gets colder, we'll see a changeover to snow from west to east by late afternoon and evening. An upper level disturbance will keep enough moisture over the region to produce some snow during the evening in Metro Richmond and possibly even points east towards the coast. With the relatively warm ground temperatures, I don't expect much accumulation. However, being that it will be nighttime and temperatures will be lowering through the 30s, I think we could see some minor accumulation on grassy surfaces, decks, etc. Road surfaces should remain wet. Well to the north and west of Richmond, from western Goochland and Hanover back to Charlottesville, I wouldn't be surprised to see an inch or two of accumulation, with some local amounts of 3 inches.
The Latest on Saturday...
No real change to the Saturday forecast everyone!
Low pressure develops along the coast and that means a cold rain by early Saturday morning. Temperatures will start out very close to 40 and hover there for a while before slowly lowering through the 30s by late afternoon and evening. Critical values in the atmosphere will be a little too high for snow for most of the day from the I-95 corridor east, but a mixture of rain and wet snow is possible during the afternoon well west of I-95.
As the coastal storm moves north-northeast and begins to pull away from the area, the atmospheric profile will get colder. While often in this situation drier air moves in with the cold, that won't necessarily be the case here. An upper level disturbance will still have to cross from the west and that will leave more available moisture for Saturday evening. It's then that I think we'll have our best shot at some snow in the Metro Richmond area.
With relatively warm ground temperatures, it will be hard to get anything to stick, although since it will be nighttime we may see some light accumulation on grassy surfaces, decks, etc. The roads should not be an issue. Stay tuned for any updates...
Low pressure develops along the coast and that means a cold rain by early Saturday morning. Temperatures will start out very close to 40 and hover there for a while before slowly lowering through the 30s by late afternoon and evening. Critical values in the atmosphere will be a little too high for snow for most of the day from the I-95 corridor east, but a mixture of rain and wet snow is possible during the afternoon well west of I-95.
As the coastal storm moves north-northeast and begins to pull away from the area, the atmospheric profile will get colder. While often in this situation drier air moves in with the cold, that won't necessarily be the case here. An upper level disturbance will still have to cross from the west and that will leave more available moisture for Saturday evening. It's then that I think we'll have our best shot at some snow in the Metro Richmond area.
With relatively warm ground temperatures, it will be hard to get anything to stick, although since it will be nighttime we may see some light accumulation on grassy surfaces, decks, etc. The roads should not be an issue. Stay tuned for any updates...
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