ROANOKE, Va. – The winter of 2019-2020 has been wimpy, from a snow perspective. By Thursday morning, another wimpy system moves through the region. It has just enough energy to produce a little bit of snow in parts of the New River Valley, Highlands and possibly in the higher elevations of Roanoke, Botetourt and Rockbridge Counties. Even still, most any accumulation we see will likely be under an inch. A few flurries will be possible in Roanoke, Salem, Cave Spring and Vinton, but don’t expect much beyond that.
This starts in the wee morning hours in parts of Grayson, Carroll, Wythe, Bland and possibly Pulaski and Giles Counties.
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As the morning progresses and this disturbance swings through, snow showers will become possible in parts of the Highlands as well.
Come Friday, we’ll be tracking a more potent system riding from the Gulf Coast up the East Coast. This one is finicky, as forecast models tend to shove these systems a little too far to the east. We do think the moisture makes its way up here late Friday into early Saturday, but the uncertainty still lies in just how much cold air will be available.
Wintry weather isn’t completely off the table, but it may be confined to areas west of the Parkway. Keep checking back for updates on that, as we expect to get refined forecast data in the next day or so.
A trailing disturbance will likely put some snow on the west-facing slopes Saturday into Saturday night, before the wind picks up Sunday.
Even though the wind picks up, the colder air will still be bottled north. In fact, the jet stream/storm track rises north which will allow for a pretty big warm-up into early next week. Highs may very well get into the 60s by Monday afternoon.
A wet pattern will continue afterward through at least the 7th and 8th of February.