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It might feel as if we've all been under a cold, wet blanket the last couple of days. That is called a "wedge" ... a layer of cool, moist air at the surface that has been shoved by high pressure to the north against the eastern side of the Appalachians. It has slowly modified the last couple of days, rising from near freezing Sunday to the 40s on Monday. During the day Tuesday, the wedge will finally erode, and we'll shoot into the 60s ... just in time for a cold front to bring showers and storms and a slight cooldown. Most of the rest of the week looks fairly normal for early April, though, with highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s.

Yes, some folks did see freezing rain and sleet on Sunday. The embedded photo, sent in by Julie Puuri of Floyd County, shows icicles hanging from a roof. Up to a half-inch of sleet was reported in some higher elevations north of Roanoke. In the Roanoke Valley itself, there was some sleet, enough for a crusty accumulation here and there especially around the fringes of the valley.

Temperatures will slowly warm Monday and then more quickly warm Tuesday. We will have a chance of rain each of the next two days, though it doesn't look like a lot is likely to fall. There could even be some thunderstorms by Tuesday evening as a new cold front approaches. The second half of the week looks drier and warmer.

The combination of cold air damming along the mountains and moisture overrunning that cold air near the surface has led the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center to mark a small area of western Virginia for low risk of a quarter-inch of ice through Sunday evening. Temperatures tonight will fall into the 30s and struggle mightily to reach 40 on Sunday. It's a little late in the season for there to be much in the way of freezing rain, but some is possible, and a few colder locales could get enough for some significant icing ... though I think the 1/4-inch possiblility is probably a stretch except maybe at some high ridgetop elevation. If the precipitation comes down hard enough on Sunday morning, there could even be some sleet or possibly wet snow mixed with the rain. The best chance of seeing wintry precipitation on Sunday extends along and north of U.S. 460, which would put the Roanoke and New River valleys at the southern edge of potential mix, though I think most areas will probably just get a cold rain with maybe a few ice pellets. At the best, Sunday looks like a raw, chilly early spring day.

Both days this weekend will start off a little cool, maybe even as low as the 30s, following a cold front passage. High pressure to the north will bank some cold, dry air along the east side of the mountains, which will mean temperatures will struggle to make the 50s even with bright sunshine Saturday and could hover in the low 40s on Sunday with increased clouds and the possibility of rain. But warmer air returns for early in the coming week, and this 8-14-day forecast map from the Climate Prediction Center shows, the trend is toward warmer than normal temperatures in the next couple of weeks.

A cold front will be pushing toward the area later today, but don't expect anything too dramatic. There will probably be a few showers, maybe even some thunder. Dew points on this side of the Appalachians are too low for much more than that. Rainfall expectations are currently less than a quarter-inch for most of us, maybe a few spots up toward half an inch, as this map from the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center shows. It will get a little cooler this weekend, with highs retreating from today's 60s and 70s back into the 50s, and lows at night into the 30s.

The Hydrometeorological Prediction Center's 5-day rainfall projection map shows something that shouldn't really surprise us too much: A hole in heavier rainfall totals right over southern Virginia. There doesn't look to be much in the way of storm systems that can really get a strong flow of Gulf moisture into our region the next several days. Some parts of the Ohio Valley may get some heavy rain with a system the next couple of days, but the bulk of that energy will pass well north of us. It looks likely that overall dry conditions will continue in our area for some time to come, with no clear pattern of increased rainfall on the horizon.

About 6:30 this evening I drove through a brief but rather intense snow shower in Southwest Roanoke County. A weak disturbance aloft allowed some puffy clouds to pop up as slight surface warming rose into cold air aloft ... almost like miniature versions of the random summer thunderstorms we get ... and these kicked out some spotty showers of rain and snow.

I think these may very well be the last flakes the lower elevations see until late next fall -- higher ridgetops often see some snow into May. The upcoming couple of weeks looks pretty mild overall with occasional rain systems. Even if we get another run of cold air from Canada, it will be so late in the season that snow will be hard to come by anywhere below about 2,500 feet.

It's spring, but it's a pretty slow-springing one.

Roanoke's high was a springlike 72 today, but a cold front is moving in that will chill temperatures overnight into the next couple of days. By Monday, lows will be the in the 20s and highs will be in the 40s. There is still some chance of snow or a snow/rain mix late Sunday night and early Monday with a weak storm system moving through, which will likely intensify too late to be much of a factor for us beyond a few showers. This cold snap will not last long, with mild to warm temperatures likely again by late in the week.

After an entire season of nearly every potential winter storm going wide left -- west of us, that is -- the Sunday-Monday low is looking to go wide right -- off the coast. For signficant snow to occur in late March or April, conditions usually have to be almost textbook perfect ... dense cold air forced southward by strong high pressure in Canada, a lot of moisture falling through that cold air, and a favorable time of day away from the most intense sunlight helps. This one is probably going to fall well short on the moisture end with the low heading off the coast. Some light snow or rain is possible Monday, but barring an unexpected shift in the pattern, probably no late-March snowstorm.

Next week is looking cold, as this map from the Climate Prediction Center shows. The pattern is shifting, at least for a few days, to one more conducive to forcing cold air our direction. What's more, there is an early-week storm system that we will have to keep an eye on for the potential to bring moisture into the cold air. Yes, there is some chance of snow around the Sunday-Monday timeframe. In any event, next week looks like it will be unseasonably cold, as winter tries to make a late return.