MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown area residents are encouraged to be prepared for more snow over the course of the next week.
After around four inches of snow hit the Morgantown area early Tuesday morning and caused first responders to assist over 70 motorists and investigate over 50 property damage calls, MetroNews AccuWeather meteorologist Dan Pedanowski reported on WAJR’s Talk of the Town that Morgantown area residents should still be careful on roadways despite the relief from snowstorms over the next few days. This is ahead of a cold front from the west that is to bring some snow over the weekend before another round of snow next week.
“So there’s a bitterly cold air mass moving in, not a lot of snow is expected tonight and tomorrow morning, maybe just a coating or a dusting here or there, but enough that you’ll have to be careful heading to school and work tomorrow morning,” said Penadowski. “In case there are some slick spots on the roadways.”
According to Pedanowski, the flurry of snow is expected to arrive on Friday night and carry over into the start of the weekend. This will be followed by snowstorms that are expected to hit parts of the area sometime Sunday, with temperatures expected to hover around the high 30s for most of the weekend. Despite the chance of snow, Pedanowski added that the worst of the incoming storms are expected to miss most, if not all, of the Morgantown area.
“Looks like there’ll be another opportunity for maybe some light snow, but it would probably be late Friday into Friday night and Saturday morning, and then maybe another piece of energy Sunday evening,” said Pedanowski. “But both of those systems at this point, they’re primarily passing by to our south.”
Penadowksi also advised residents to be careful of similarly cold weather that is expected starting early next week. This will include a projected polar vortex that is expected to affect the Morgantown area starting Thursday, with storms that will be off and on over the weekend. This is also expected to lead to a trend in cold weather that typically occurs during the end of December.
“Looks like another piece of the polar vortex or another piece of Arctic air may return to the forecast later next week, so there could be an opportunity for some more bitter cold again,” said Pedanowski. “So on the balance here over the next seven to ten days, it looks like we’ll be below our historical average.”
If the cold trends continue into the rest of December, Penadowski noted that it would be on pace for temperatures to average at about ten degrees below the normal historical averages of the low 40s. This is expected to continue to trend downward if the weather maintains a historical pace of declining into near-freezing temperatures during the closing weeks of the year. With a month left and snowstorms expected over the next week, Penadowski encourages residents to be ready for more cold weather as the year comes to a close.
“So far, obviously, we’ve been in the 30s so far this month, and highs in the 30s really in the foreseeable future, so I think that the month as a whole does look like it’s going to be a chilly one here across Morgantown,” said Pedanowski.