The rain came… the cold chased. But the cold wasn’t quick enough to get a prolonged period of accumulating sleet going before the first wave of steady precip headed east. Some locations, north and west of the Triangle saw a little accumulation, around here just a couple of window-dressing sleet and snow showers.
What will happen from here…We’re in a lull in the precip for the next several hours (altho as I’m about to publish this…there looks to be another round of sleet/snow in the Triangle by 3:15/3:30) with just some spotty sleet and snow showers. The concern now becomes the advancing cold air. It has been below freezing since just after 1pm and the temperature will continue to drop into the mid 20s by the end of rush hour and to the mid teens overnight. Once you get in the mid 20s, all the moisture leftover from this AM’s rain will quickly begin to freeze and things will become an ice rink regardless of whether we get more frozen precip this evening.
As for that additional frozen precip…We will see more showery sleet and snow episodes late afternoon into this evening. When the precip is stronger, it’s more likely to be sleet or snow. When it’s lighter, it’s likely to be freezing drizzle. The only way to get any real accumulation would be under a more organized band that provided a prolonged hour or so of precip. This would be most likely this evening and probably from the Triangle north and east.
The thing that makes this a dangerous situation isn’t really the volume of any frozen precip, but the fact the cold air rushing in now will freeze things up efficiently and quickly. So watch out for the Flash Freeze! Sounds like the next greatest meteorological buzzword to go around…a la Polar Vortex and Black Ice. Ha!
Looking past tonight, Wed morning has the potential to be interesting with another nuisance event of some light freezing.
Then there’s Friday…probably just a cold dreary heavy rain, but something to watch for at least part of the area (NW) to experience heavy wet snow.
4:06 PM, March 3, 2014Chris Harrell /
Ok…I’ve purposely refrained from leaving a comment, but I’m so VERY ready for Spring! Do you have connections??