FOX Carolina 21Welcome Back, Winter!

Welcome Back, Winter!

TGIF!  A cold front is going to bring some BIG changes to our area over the weekend.  I'm going to break down the short-term forecast in this post - then, as promised, Andy will post more discussion on next week's system later today.

Clouds have been increasing through the morning, and those clouds will hold tough through the day today.  We'll stay dry through the daylight hours, as a cold front begins to advance closer to us by this evening.  Late-day some precipitation will develop in the Upstate and Mountains.  In the Upstate, we'll only watch for spotty RAIN showers through the evening.  We won't see much precip, and the rain will be very light.  In the Mountains, a mix of rain and snow will kick off by late-afternoon and continue through the evening.

Upstate spots will see rain end overnight - we could see a few flakes in northern Upstate spots, but there will be NO accumulations there.  We'll see more sun through the day on Saturday.  In WNC, the rain/snow mix will transition to all snow overnight.  Snow showers will continue through the day Saturday, primarily on the higher elevations near the TN border.

As far as accumulations in WNC go, southern counties (Transylvania, Henderson, Rutherford, Polk) won't see any accumulations.  Around Asheville, less than an inch will be possible - while the accumulations of significance will be limited to the higher peaks (3500 ft+) near the TN border.  These areas will see 1-3 inches generally, with isolated spots picking up as much as 4 inches of snow.

Temperatures will be the big story area-wide, as arctic air spills in for the weekend.  In the Upstate, highs Saturday and Sunday will be in the 40s.  WNC temperatures will hold in the low 30s tomorrow morning - perhaps falling a bit into the afternoon!  On Sunday, Mountain highs will only reach the mid 30s.

Winds will be very gusty through the day tomorrow, and Lake Wind Advisories will likely be posted for the area (gusts of 30+ mph).  These winds will only make the cold temperatures feel colder - so really, be sure you are bundled up big time if you're spending any significant time outside this weekend.  I've heard from some of you who are going skiing or tubing, and the weather will definitely be wintry for you... just be sure you've got everything covered.  Those hats, gloves and scarves will be especially important.  Sunday morning temps will drop into the low 20s in the Upstate and teens in the Mountains.  But, those still-strong winds will make the wind chill values drop to dangerous levels in WNC.  We'll be in the single digits above and below-zero for most, while some of the higher elevations could see wind chill values of -10° or colder.

Stay warm - but be careful with fires and space heaters!  And again, Andy will be posting on the Tuesday outlook later... so stay tuned!