• Posted:1/21/2015 5:45 PM
• Expires: 1/22/2015 8:00 AM

The Piedmont of NC can expect to see Cold Rain and a little Wintry Mix overnight Friday and Saturday with Freezing Rain / Snow in the Foothills and Mountains.

This forecast is for the Friday/Saturday event.

First, broadcast media and NOAA have covered this quite well so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. We first advertised this event as a winter weather candidate on 12/30, so it has been on the NC Weather Happens RADAR for almost  month. So let’s get to it.

The lack of a moderate to strong High pressure system over the Great Lakes and New England, starves this system of cold air but with temps near freezing, a wintry mix is most likely to occur. This is a classic setup for a great Piedmont snow, we just don’t have the chill to make it happen.

The chances for measurable snow in the Piedmont are small, but a bit of sleet or wet snow cannot be ruled out.

The European model is perhaps the most aggressive of the available models, but doesn’t take into account thermal profiles (which determine the precipitation type) so don’t get too hung up on this image. Warm air is going to be under cooler air making any frozen precip fall as…rain.

The NAM confirms this as precipitation does fall as snow, but with surface temps above freezing, it ends up on the ground as rain outside of the Foothills and Mountains.

Road Conditions:

Ground temperatures in the Piedmont will generally be too warm for accumulation, but this image is offered as advice to emergency management that there may be some isolated travel issues Saturday morning especially in outlying areas.

Bottom Line:

We have 2-3 systems coming in. The first, Friday/Saturday. The next on Monday. There is another candidate around the 3rd… Let’s take one event at a time for now. We are happy to say we have been watching this for a month and could at least get it on your calendar. Keep in mind, that this forecast will change right up to 2:00 Friday afternoon when the rain shield enters the Piedmont, so another update may bee needed. Keep an eye on the weather and we all know, NC Weather can change on a dime!!!

The Monday system is still not confirmed as a track further south may bring more frozen precipitation to our area, so we’ll let you know when things change.

NC Weather Happens. Enjoy it!

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