ROANOKE, Va. – The same front that’s produced severe thunderstorms in parts of the country will be responsible for a sharp cool-down in our area later this week.
Limited moisture on the back side of the frontal system will result in snow piling up on our western slopes. Winter Storm Watches are up for the western halves of Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties Wednesday evening through Friday evening.
Some more favored locations in the New River Valley (Whitetop, Mountain Lake, Burkes Garden, etc.) could pick up some snow too.
Outside of the western slopes, scattered snow showers will be around Thursday in parts of the New River Valley, Highlands and higher elevations of the Roanoke Valley (Bent Mountain/Catawba). Accumulation will be hard to come by. If it does happen, it would be light and brief before melting.
As surface temperatures rise, snowflakes would melt on their descent to the ground. This could result in what’s called graupel (soft hail, hominy snow, Dippin’ Dots snow, etc).
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Within these bursts of wintry whatever, there will be some gusty wind. Expect gusts ranging between 20 and 40 mph Thursday through Saturday, as our storm system lingers off the Gulf of Maine.
Morning lows will drop into the 30s, leading to frost or freezing temperatures if the wind calms enough each morning this weekend.
We’ll be cool for the race weekend at Martinsville, but things turn more pleasant by Sunday afternoon for the Cup Series race.