Pinpoint Weather: Quiet and dry pattern continues, rain and snow expected late Friday

Looks like the mild and dry pattern will continue for one more day as high pressure is mounted overhead.  The west to east flow of air is tapping into a dry pocket so don’t expect to see much in the way of cloud cover until Friday. The temperatures will be about 10 – 12 degrees above where they should be for this time of year.  The normal high for Mid-March in Roanoke is 57 and that is what I am forecasting for Thursday.  Enjoy it while it lasts, there will be a much cooler pattern here over the weekend.

Thursday will be dry and mild, as mentioned above, with the last of the mostly sunny days for a while.  The pattern will be shifting as a cold front moves in from the north and west late Friday into Saturday. 

Friday will be the day of transition as clouds will fill the skies late in the day and the temps will not be nearly as mild. The front will generally run out of available moisture by the time it makes it to the mountains, but some snow will fall on the hills overnight into Saturday and some rain showers will make it to the ground Saturday morning.

Saturday does look to be much cooler as the front will have cleared the region by then. The rain chances look to be slight and mainly in the morning.  On the west facing slopes of the Alleghanies the snow machine will be turned on, with light snow falling off and on over the weekend and into next week.

Most locations, other than the mountains, over the weekend should stay dry after the early morning precipitation Saturday.  Nothing other than snow on the hills is expected in the way of precipitation.

MLK jr. Day (Monday) will be near normal temperature-wise with temps in the middle 40s. There will be a mix of clouds and sun and flurries or snow showers west of the Appalachian Divide.

Stay safe

John Carroll
Chief Meteorologist 

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