2009.02.21
Cold front, moisture band approaching from the west
Winter weather advisories are now in effect for several counties in West Virginia, a few in far Southwest Virginia and in the high country of northwest North Carolina, all for the forthcoming upslope snow shower event. But the winter storm watch was not upgraded to a warning, at least not yet. Latest warnings/advisories: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/rnk/emer/emer_winter.php
National/regional radar shows a pretty potent band of rain/snow moving east with the cold front across Kentucky and Tennessee. Several stations in Kentucky are in the low to mid 30s with snow falling. We'll see how well that sticks together as it approaches our area. The downslope effect on this side of the mountains and the low pulling away to the northeast are likely to dry the moisture up significantly, but there could be a brief burst of light-moderate rain or snow with this moisture band. After the cold front goes by, the low to the north will pull in the familiar chilly northwest winds that have defined this winter, and the upslope snows will commence over West Virginia. A few snow showers will likely bleed over into the New River Valley on Sunday, and a few flakes may even fly by in the Roanoke Valley. Considering that Roanoke has had a trace of snow on 19 days this winter, this has very much been the norm for '08-'09.
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I want to make a comment about this and other recent winters, but practically no one will read it because it is the weekend. I will wait until at least Sunday night. And perhaps you have already touched on this precise subject. I think you will agree with most of what I will post ....
Comment by Doug Griggs — February 21, 2009 @ 8:11 pm
Hi Kevin,
Saw the Channel 7 weather with the precip evaporating as it crosses the mountains. Maybe we will have day 20 of a trace of snow. March can still surprise us, we are due for a snow in March. It will be hard to live down having RDU with more snow than ROA!
Steve
Comment by Steve Murray — February 21, 2009 @ 8:27 pm
Precip is hitting the mountains now. Let's see what happens; maybe we'll be in for a surprise.
Comment by Brandon R. — February 21, 2009 @ 9:43 pm
Looks like it's doing about what we thought. Very, very dry air this side of the mountains ... dew point was 12 in Roanoke not long ago, despite south winds.
Comment by kevinmyatt — February 21, 2009 @ 10:22 pm
Yep. Still another non-event.
Comment by Brandon R. — February 21, 2009 @ 11:29 pm
Been watching the radar and the back edge of the precipitation is advancing, but the front edge is not progressing nearly as fast. Our dewpoint is in the low 20's, but air temp is 41 at the airport in Dublin, but at our house it's 36, but was 34 earlier this evening. I'm not so sure that there will be much of a band by the time it gets to the NRV, so if we have even a dusting out of it, I will be surprised.
Comment by Other John — February 22, 2009 @ 12:14 am
Here in C'burg we are getting a band of pretty heavy snow fall. 2 inches have fallen within the hour.
Comment by Nate — February 22, 2009 @ 7:15 am
Well, I was surprised this morning. We got just shy of an inch and a half out of the storm, and now the winds are picking up and blowing the snow out of the trees and off the roofs, so it's making for a pretty scene this morning. That brings our yearly snow total right to 10 inches at our house, though 2.5 has been the single biggest all year so far, and maybe for the rest of winter. Somehow, I just get a feeling that we may not get any more chances for the winter. Going back to Kevin's baseball analogy (at least in terms of the NRV), I'd say the batter got a lead off solo home-run with this. Good result, but in the grand scheme of the game, it's nothing much of note considering the deficit.
Comment by Other John — February 22, 2009 @ 7:52 am