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A quick update to confirm that we’re still on track for a moderate to possibly heavy winter storm, particularly in eastern NC.

As the arctic front enters NC on Thursday, rain will begin to changeover to sleet and snow as the cold air invades into Thursday evening and overnight. The front will serve as a focusing mechanism for waves of low pressure to ride from SW to NE along the Southeast Coast.

There are still plenty of details to be ironed out, but 3 days out, the models are converging on a consensus for an axis of heaviest snow lining up from Albemarle to Raleigh to Norfolk. Immediately, southeast of this line there looks to be the axis of heavy sleet.

Behind the storm it will be very cold. We’ll be dealing with whatever falls on the ground for a while after the storm is long gone.

I’ll have a more complete analysis late tonight.

As today’s storm winds down for us in NC, we can look back and say that it came and went pretty well according to plan.

Note: there is the possibility of a snow shower or two rotating thru Wake Co. near the upper level low in the 11pm to 1am timeframe this evening (Sun, 16 Jan). Nothing to worry about with respect to significant accumulation, just an opportunity to see more of the flakes that many wished they had gotten earlier in the day.

Looking ahead, we’ll have a relatively chilly week, but with moderating temps each day ahead of an Arctic front which arrives Thursday accompanied by rain showers. Then, the uncertainty begins as to the possibility of a coastal storm, which is now being alluded to in the long range models for next weekend.

The numeric guidance at this point depicts a different scenario than the setup for today’s storm. This setup would be more promising for a real snowstorm vs ice. It would be a coastal storm. If fact, one of the possibilities is that Raleigh could miss out by being on the western edge of the precip, while the coastal plain hits the sweet spot.

Again, waaaaaay too early for anything except dreaming. However, I will say that pattern thru the end of the month looks to be one of the most promising in a couple of years, if you are a winter weather lover. It will average well below normal for temps. We just have to get the timing right with the arrival of the moisture!

No real changes this evening to the aforementioned thinking as to evolution of the impending winter storm

Best estimation for Raleigh metro is that we begin close to 7am on Sunday morning with some light snow. The snow will quickly change to sleet, with snow/sleet accumulations of only a coating up to an inch. The snow/sleet should quickly change over to freezing rain. Look for the warm air intrusion from the coastal front to push Raleigh above freezing between 12-2pm. This will obviously end any additional accrual of freezing rain, however dangerous travel conditions will persist with the snow/sleet/ice that remain on the roads.

Estimates in Raleigh proper are for a coating to as much as an inch of snow/sleet. On top of that, expect .1 to .2″ of ice accrual. The farther west you are, the higher the totals of both snow/sleet and ice. And since Wake county will be the transition zone, impacts could range from significant (west) to ‘meh’ (east).

I’ll update with any new information on Saturday

We are now entering the “short term modeling window”. To this point, we’ve been using large-scale models for general macroscale storm guidance. There is now general consensus on the evolution of the storm such that, the track of the surface low (and coastal front with its warm push intrusion) probably won’t differ by more than 20 to 50 miles. Those 20-50 miles will be crucial for those on the eastern edge battle front, which will be near Wake County.

Let’s back up to clarify… barring any crazy last minute monkey-wrenches, the outline from last night holds. In Raleigh, we should see snow begin 4-6am Sunday morning. This will be short-lived. Expect the snow to change to sleet quickly. I expect the sleet to be short-lived as well.

The snow and sleet should lay down coverage from a light coating to an inch or so. Then, the freezing rain begins. The question becomes how long does the cold air damming remain in place against the intrusion of the warm air behind the coastal front moving from SE to NW. Here’s where the short term modeling comes into play…

Up to this point, we’ve been using large scale, coarse model grid points. Now, in the short term, the grid spacing gets much tighter, and more reliable for resolving local-scale problems like… “How far west will the surface freezing line make it?” This is key to Raleigh. The longer we stay below freezing, the more crippling accrual of ice we get.

No need to guess tonight, I’ll provide more precise ideas on what that looks like in a post tomorrow. Tonight, the key takeaway is that Sunday looks to be a treacherous travel situation. Make alternate plans.

Bonus… some of the short term models suggest that we may see a period of snow Sat afternoon. Should be inconsequential, but pretty!

Lots of time before this event… Tonight, the best guess for Raleigh is for a little bit of snow — to significant sleet — to significant ice — and then rain at the end of the event.

Happy New Year!

I could/should wax poetic over the couple of different scenarios on the table as to our impending winter weather event. However, the main message to convey is that a significant winter storm is likely to impact Raleigh west thru the mountains, beginning early Sunday morning (earlier from the west to east).

As disappointing as it might be for clarity, there’s no need to hypothesize as to scenarios until we get closer in the Fri PM/Sat AM timeframe. Honestly, all solutions are on the table at this point, and we’ll probably waffle back and forth over the next couple days.

Tonight’s read indicates an impactful snow to sleet to freezing rain to rain event in Raleigh. Then, along a gradient as you go west to Greensboro you’ll see an all frozen… more snow, more sleet and freezing rain.

Happy snow-dreaming!