MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Two winter weather makers are inbound to the northern West Virginia area. A winter weather advisory is in effect for the Morgantown area from 4 a.m. Friday through 4 a.m. Saturday.
MetroNews Accuweather Meteorologist Kerry Schwindenhammer said the first system will arrive in the Morgantown area with snow showers around 3 to 4 a.m. Snow showers will taper off late morning into the afternoon when locally heavy snow squalls enter the forecast.
“There’s going to be then a round of snow showers and even some heavier squalls that will develop probably around the early to mid-afternoon hours,” Schwindenhammer said. “Some of those squalls could be locally heavy, causing some dangerous road conditions.”
The forecast for Friday shows a high during the day of 33 degrees with wind gusts of up to 22 miles per hour and a 90-percent chance of precipitation. Snow showers are forecast to continue into Friday evening with a low temperature of 19 degrees.
“Even if the road crews do a good job with the snowfall that happens in the morning, there still could be some problems with these snow squalls in the afternoon with these snow squalls moving through, and they’ll continue through the evening,” Schwindenhammer said. “The total snowfall is probably around two to four inches when all is said and done.”
The next storm will arrive Sunday into Monday with heavier snowfall amounts expected. Schwindenhammer said the second weather maker will follow a more traditional track and bring winter weather to a much larger portion of the east coast.
“The next storm that comes our way is going to be a much stronger storm,” Schwindenhammer said. “That’s going to be emerging from the southern plains, riding along through the Tennessee Valley, and that’s going to affect a much larger portion of the eastern United States.”
Schwindenhammer said the second storm will deliver higher accumulations in isolated areas, likely to the south of Morgantown.
“Exactly where those locations are is going to be the big question with the next storm system,” Schwindenhammer said. “I do think we’re right in that zone where there could be three to six inches and locally higher amounts, especially south of Morgantown.”
Schwindenhammer said a third storm system is getting organized, and early models show it impacting the southern United States.
“The next storm that we’re probably going to be dealing with is probably going to be a southern storm that affects more of the Gulf Coast region, and that’s going to be later in the week toward the 9th or 10th of January.”