Warm and wet Christmas week ahead

A series of disturbances is going to make for a wet holiday week around the region. Rain chances are in the forecast almost every day except Christmas Eve. If this were a more typical week temperature-wise, we would end this forecast period with fairly good snow totals. But highs will be in the 50s most of the week, with a couple of days and several locations seeing the thermometer touch the 60-degree mark throughout the week, especially on Christmas Day and the day after Christmas.

Tonight, we’ll see lows drop into the middle 30s throughout most of the region, with some upper 20s and lower 30s in the highest elevation areas, along with other parts of the Greenbrier Valley. Because we’re expecting some precipitation later tonight and the fact that there will be sub-freezing temperatures in those parts of the area, along with warmer than freezing temperatures above the surface, freezing rain is possible there.

I think most of the ice will be outside of Lewisburg and Marlinton, but those two cities need to pay attention to the temperatures.

Any ice accumulations will not be heavy, perhaps a quarter inch in some isolated spots. But, of course, it doesn’t take much to cause big problems on the roads and powerlines.

With the possibility of icing in place, the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow.

Tomorrow, as the temperatures rise, any freezing rain changes back over to rain. We’ll wind up in the lower 50s for the highs. We’ll get a break from the rain, but it’s only a brief one. The overall pattern continues to be wet. Late in the extended forecast period, there are hints of a major pattern change. There is a definite trend in that direction in the atmospheric models. With that in mind, it’s also reflected in the last day of the seven-day forecast, where the average high will only be in the upper 20s and lower 30s.