The Roanoke Valley is one of the areas in Central North Carolina which is at risk for heaviest amounts of snowfall, the National Weather Service in Raleigh reported at its latest briefing this afternoon.
The NWS says between 4 to 8 inches of snow is possible with amounts higher in isolated spots.
Forecasters report weather and travel conditions are expected to deteriorate late
Friday evening, becoming difficult if not impossible overnight into Saturday morning. Travel is not recommended during this time.
Dangerous travel conditions will continue through the rest of the weekend.
The NWS expects black ice will then present a travel problem during the
night and morning hours through Tuesday morning.
Forecasters expressed high confidence about when the precipitation arrives and ends,
but low confidence about when any precipitation type changeovers occur.
The forecasters expressed low confidence regarding exact amounts because the storm
system has trended warmer, which would mean a mixture of wintry precipitation types, rather than an all-snow event.
Snowfall forecast amounts will be challenging,the NWS said in the briefing. “Regardless of whether the wintry precipitation type is snow or sleet, there will still be enough of it to cause dangerous travel conditions this weekend.”
Meanwhile, the NWS says dry, but very cold temperatures are expected Sunday through early next week.
High temps will struggle to reach freezing Sunday and Monday, and will fall into
the teens Saturday night.
Single-digits are expected Sunday night, and teens again Monday night.
Places that have a solid snowpack will see even colder temperatures.
Scattered areas of black ice will likely be problems during the night into the morning hours Sunday through Tuesday.