ROANOKE, Va. – Friday Afternoon Update
WAAD has been cleared.
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Friday Morning Update
Light snow showers push in throughout the morning with a few lingering into the early afternoon. Here is a look at futurecast at noon.
Snowfall estimates are down across the board. There will still be some areas in the region that see 1-3inches of snow by the time the event concludes. However, it does not look to be as widespread as initially thought.
Totals below could see +/- 0.5in
As we head into the weekend, mostly cloudy skies will continue. Saturday features near normal temperatures while Sunday brings a strong front that causes temperatures to decline through the day. It will also be very windy at times to close out the weekend.
Thursday Update
A Weather Authority Alert Day has been issued for Friday, December 12th, for accumulating snowfall and the high potential for slick roadways.
Snow showers will begin very late tonight and overspread the area by daybreak on Friday. Snowfall is expected to taper off by mid-afternoon.
A Winter Weather Advisory is now in effect for the New River Valley, Roanoke Valley, Highlands Zone, and portions of the Lynchburg Zone. Southside should see little to no impact from this event.
All of this wintry mess will be caused by an Alberta clipper.
An Alberta Clipper is basically a very quick-moving low-pressure system that tracks southeast out of Alberta, Canada (How it got its name.)
The graphic below shows the upper-level track of this clipper.
Snow will begin around 12-2 AM Friday morning. As this is an overnight start to the precip, we will likely see an all-snowfall precip type.
By daybreak, snow will have overspread the region and easily make the morning commute slippery.
Snowfall will wrap up mid-afternoon. A brief transition to a wintry mix will happen before all precipitation wraps up by 5-6 PM.
In terms of impacts, this clipper system will not be nearly as impactful as what moved through this past Monday. We will still see widespread snowfall, a wintry mix to end precipitation, and, of course, power outages and icy roadways.
Snowfall accumulation map is posted below!