ROANOKE, Va. – We’d issued a Weather Authority Alert Day earlier this week for potentially severe thunderstorms. That has since been cleared.
The same system that caused that is now the reason for strong wind gusts throughout the day Thursday. Gusts will peak between 30 and 45 mph late morning into the afternoon.
Riding these gusts, we’ll see snow piling up on the western slopes.
Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties, who were under tornado warnings Tuesday, are under winter storm warnings through Friday night. A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for Grayson County through Friday morning.
That said, some scattered snow showers and flurries will be around in parts of the New River Valley, higher elevations of the Roanoke Valley and the Highlands.
As surface temperatures rise, there will be scattered rain showers. Cold air above us, however, could lead to the development of hail or graupel. I explained the difference between the two in a Facebook post (below) Wednesday.
[SEE SNOW, HAIL OR GRAUPEL? Send your pictures or videos through Pin It!]
Temperatures manage to reach the 40s in the mountains and 50s elsewhere, and that’s essentially where our afternoons will camp out through Saturday.
Overnight lows will drop into the 30s through Sunday, and the wind will determine whether or not you a) see frost or b) you see freezing temperatures. A safe bet would be to bring any pets/plants inside, or cover your plants up for the time being.
Aside from the chill Friday and Saturday, the weather for race weekend at Martinsville looks fine! We’ll be in the 60s for the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday afternoon.
Finally, we’re eyeing the forecast for the Solar Eclipse Monday. At the moment, it looks like there will at least be some cloud cover.
We’ll know more in the coming days, as we get more high-resolution (detailed) forecast data.