Weather

Hopefully not too many got used to the warm weather we had last week, because that’s changed a bit already, with more changes upcoming. There’s snow on the way in today’s Tri-Cities Weather Blog forecast. I’ve got the details coming up, but here’s the outlook to get the quick numbers out of the way.

• Tonight-Mostly clear. Low 21.
• Tuesday-Mostly sunny with a high of 54. Partly to mostly cloudy Tuesday night, lows around 33.
• Wednesday-Rain developing by afternoon, with gusty winds. High 48.
• Wednesday night-Rain changes to snow. Accumulations possible. Lows near 20.
• Thursday-Mostly cloudy and windy, with a few snow showers early. High 29.
• Friday-Partly cloudy. High 38.

The next day and a half (starting Monday afternoon) look fine. Cold tonight, mild tomorrow, with clear skies. Clouds do increase into the area for tomorrow night ahead of a cold front that brings rain on Wednesday.

Looks right now like the cold front moves through Wednesday evening. Behind that front will be winds from the northwest and sharply colder weather. As it appears right now, the dropping temperatures won’t happen until after dark Wednesday, which puts most of the snow possibilities overnight.

By Thursday, snow showers will be flying around early, but for the most part that section of the forecast is over…for now. We’ll clear out with cold conditions on Friday. Another front may bring some snow showers over the weekend, but we’ll think about that as we get closer to it.

I know what you’re thinking. “How much snow am I going to get?” Or the secondary, “Will school be out Thursday?” Well, the first question I have a shot at answering. Most of the higher amounts of snow (2-4 inches or more) will be in the higher elevations, and some in Southwest Virginia may achieve those numbers by the end of the day Thursday. Most of Southwest Virginia stays in the 1-2 inch range, with the Tri-Cities very likely seeing less than an inch of snow. The farther southwest you go, the less snow is likely. As always, the mountaintops get colder, so those locations will have more snow than the 4 inch maximum number above. But very few people will see that many with this.

Most of the time, snow numbers make a giant 7 on the map. Slightly bigger numbers north of the Tennessee/Virginia border, with much bigger numbers from the Tennessee/North Carolina line on up. Everyone from basically the Tennessee side of Bristol and southwest should see smaller amounts of snow.

As for the question about schools closing Thursday? I haven’t the foggiest idea. I can always say, “well normally when x happens it’s a two-hour delay or schools are closed,” but every event is different. I know it’s difficult to plan, but it really does come down to waking up the morning of school (or any other planned event) on Thursday to find out if you’re going or not!

Bottom line, the vast majority of us shouldn’t have many problems from this, as the higher snow totals will be where there are fewer people. If you’ve got travel plans across the mountains one way or the other, though, delaying that might be the best plan if possible.

That’s it for this look at the upcoming snow event. Enjoy the warm(ish) weather Tuesday!