Forecast Discussion

Synopsis:

Yesterday's storm continues to push off to our north and east. Snow showers in the western mountains will gradually diminish throughout the remainder of the day. A series of clipper systems will move in Friday and during the early part of the weekend, bringing light to moderate snow accumulations across much of the state. A weak ridge of high pressure will build in across the Northeast come late Sunday and into early Monday.

Short Term:

Snow showers across the northern and western mountains will continue to diminish throughout the late afternoon and early evening hours as the general flow shifts to be more out of the West and SW ahead of the first clipper system entering the region. There is general agreement for the setup of these clippers but the timing of each varies slightly. We went with the SREF's as the best guidance for the short term forecast. The 15z run indicates that a wide swath of light snow will begin moving into Western counties close to midnight and continue to spread across the state during the day Friday. The next clipper looks to move into the state early Saturday morning. Total accumulations from these two clippers may be on the order of 1"-3" across much of the state with some locals in the Northern and Western mountains likely seeing more. As far as temps are concerned, we erred slightly on the cooler side of MOS guidance due to the snow pack across the state. Temps look to be at or slightly below average.

Long Term:

We will see a slight cool down in temps early next week in the wake of this string of clippers as they move eastward and out to sea. A weak ridge builds in across our region late Sunday and into early Monday. The next round of snow showers look to move into NW zones come late Monday and into Tuesday. Upcoming shifts should keep an eye out for an interesting storm that is looking to develop in the lower Mississippi Valley and move into the NE come mid-late week.

 

Christopher Cornwell