A Nor’easter is forecast to move across the deep south and into the Mid-Atlantic before moving east into the Atlantic. As this storm moves into the Atlantic, it’s supposed to “bomb” out into a bomb cyclone. A bomb cyclone is defined as a low pressure center that drops 24mb in pressure in a 24 hour period. This cyclone is expected to go from near 990mb to near 960mb in a short time as it heads towards the Northeast.
The Northeast will be getting the brunt of this storm as Blizzard Warnings are up from the Delmarva to Boston. That is due to, not only up to 2 feet of snow falling up there, but mainly for the winds which will be close to 40-50 mph in places, causing visibility to drop below a quarter mile. Winds around a low pressure system move counter-clockwise. That flow will bring a lot of moisture from the Great Lakes into our region. With the moisture from this system clashing into the Appalachians, widespread snow is expected to accumulate across West Virginia.
Snow should begin early Sunday morning for some, but dry air looks to be present around sunrise. When it gets to around noon, maybe just after noon, snow should start back up for most of the region and last throughout the day Sunday. This is what Futurecast looks like around 6 PM on Sunday. You can see how this looks like little bands of snow, with drier air in between. That is exactly what we can expect from northwest flow of the winds, causing snow bands and potential snow squalls. The snow forecast is tricky. Not everyone highlighted in the areas will see the exact snow totals predicted. This is more of a widespread “most people” should be sitting in this range, although there are some caveats.
If you are under one or multiple heavy snow bands/snow squalls, you will have heavier snow totals. If you miss most of or any of these bands/squalls, your snow totals will most likely be underperforming. It could be as narrow as Fayetteville getting under a band and gets 2 inches with it, while Oak Hill gets nothing because it missed. That’s just an example. These bands could also have locally higher wind gusts and lower visibility. The Greenbrier Valley should be on the lower end of snow totals, since they are sitting on the opposite side of the mountain range.
After this storm, we are dry Tuesday and Wednesday before we start to see another storm system moving through the region late Wednesday night into early Friday morning. With temperatures these days being more “seasonal”, the majority of this precipitation should be rain. Although, don’t be shocked if some people get snow on the backside of this system early Friday morning.
Here is a look at the 7 day forecast!
Watch the full forecast below!
