The system expected to bring a winter storm to our region has officially arrived in the continental US, meaning the data will be more reliable from now on! We will know a lot more until tonight! For now, here is the data available as of Saturday morning. Prepare for the storm, but please don’t panic. It would be a lot easier if we just got pure snow, but it gets a lot more complicated when you add sleet and freezing rain into the equation. Let me go through this hour by hour so you know when to expect the worst.

Sunday

The timing is almost the same as Friday. It will start to snow in our area between 7 and 10 a.m. Sunday morning.

As we approach late morning and midday, snow and sleet begin to alternate, while warm air begins to enter the atmosphere about a mile above our heads. When we swing back and forth between snow and sleet, we call this sleet contamination because the sleet is really receding and depleting the snow potential. Remember that sleet is an ice pellet that refreezes before it reaches the ground and bounces off the surface.

The transition to the heaviest winter precipitation, namely freezing rain, begins in the mid to late afternoon. Icy rain (in the most Models) lasts until the evening and night hours.

While the intensity of the freezing rain will be quite heavy initially, it may ease later in the evening and overnight. While this may sound like a good thing, it actually isn’t when we talk about ice formation. Heavy freezing rain makes it difficult to get stuck and stuck to power lines and trees. When the rain is heavier, much of it runs off without freezing on contact. However, as it becomes lighter, more can accumulate.

To our south, where temperatures are closer to the warm front and surface temperatures are closer to freezing, rainfall variability will be even greater.

Monday

As the night progresses, the type of precipitation will remain in exactly the same zones, but will weaken after 2 a.m., allowing ice to build up on trees and power lines, as we discussed earlier. Winds are also starting to pick up, with gusts varying between 30 and 35 miles per hour. This combination is not good when it comes to keeping the lights on. You need to have a plan in case there is a power outage because the temperature may not rise above freezing for 125 to 150 hours.

To be clear, isolated to numerous power outages are possible, especially in areas where lines are above ground. On Monday we will switch from the wintry mix back to pure snow around 7am. Don’t forget that there will be a layer of ice hidden under the snow.

Monday’s snow will likely last for a good portion of the day, with heavier snow falling in the morning. We begin to dry off in the late afternoon. Again, try not to panic because this isn’t a be-all-end-all storm, but we’re likely to see significant travel impacts throughout the rest of the weekend and into Monday.

We’ll continue to provide updates throughout the weekend and report on what’s happening on the ground on WDRB. Stay with the WDRB Weather Team as we continue to track this system!

Buzz

This is what we have from Saturday morning, 10 a.m. Select your location on the map and follow the legend to see the range at your location. Please don’t just pay attention to the top number. Full disclaimer: There is so much liquid and so much energy in this dynamic storm that these numbers will change. Check back with us throughout the weekend for up-to-date snow and ice levels!