A weak disturbance brought a few light flurries to North/Central West Virginia today.  Only trace amounts of snowfall were observed despite persistent low level cloud deck in northern zones. Otherwise, broad high pressure will make for a generally calm, dry forecast this evening and overnight tonight. Expecting light winds out of the southwest & a low of 20...
    Saturday will start dry with a few peaks of sunshine. Warm air moving in from the south will allow temperatures to warm into the mid to upper 30s during the day. A weak low pressure disturbance will cross the Great Lakes late Saturday. A few light flurries will skirt the area as the evening progresses.  Accumulation up to an inch could create slick roadways Saturday night. Any untreated surfces could become hazardous. Depending on the timing of warm air advection & placement of low pressure center rain/snow mix or total transition to rain is also possible in southern portions of the state. Cold air will sag into the area Saturday night & lows will once again dip into the low 20s...
     A few light snowflakes will linger into Sunday morning. Otherwise, high pressure will regain control Sunday & we finish the weekend on a dry note. Daytime highs gradually reach the low 40s by Tuesday...More wet weather will cross the Central Plains and bring mixed precip Monday night & Tuesday. Will need to refine Tuesday's forecast as rain/snow mix could again create hazadous driving conditions early Tuesday...Cold air & a few snowflakes on tap for Wednesday.

HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN TODAY WHILE ZONAL FLOW BRINGS GENERALLY DRY & MILD CONDITIONS THROUGH FRIDAY. A FEW LINGERING FLURRIES PERSIST ESPECIALLY IN THE MOUNTAIN COUNTIES WHERE ACCUMULATING SNOW FLURRIES WILL DEPART KICKING AND SCREAMING. WINTER STORM WARNINGS HAVE EXPIRED AS WIND GUSTS BEGIN TO SLACK OFF EVEN ALONG RIDGETOPS TODAY & CLOUD COVER BEGINS TO DISIPATE. WE SETTLE IN FOR ANOTHER COLD NIGHT WITH LOWS IN THE MID TO UPPER TEENS...
WEAK DISTURBANCE WILL PASS FRIDAY & MAY BRING ABOUT A FEW LIGHT MORNING SNOW FLURRIES TO THE NORTH. OTHERWISE HIGH PRESSURE WILL HANG ON TO KEEP THE REST OF FRIDAY GENERALLY DRY. A SERIES OF WEAK DISTURBANCES WILL BRUSH THE AREA SATURDAY MORNING & AGAIN SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY. WARM AIR ADVECTION WILL ALLOW AT LEAST A RAIN/SNOW MIX IF NOT A TOTAL TRANSITION RAIN SATURDAY & SUNDAY. WARM AIR TREND WILL CONTINUE INTO THE FIRST PART OF NEXT WEEK AS TEMPS WILL LIKELY BREAK INTO THE 40S TUESDAY. MORE WET WEATHER ARRIVES MONDAY NIGHT TUESDAY...COULD SEE HIGH WATER HAZARDS POP UP, ESPECIALLY IN THE MOUNTAIN COUNTIES GIVEN SNOW MELT AND ADDITIONAL RAINFALL NEXT WEEK.

OCCASIONAL SNOW FLURRIES STILL FLYING BUT STARTING TO WANE THIS EVENING IN LOWER ELEVATIONS. NORTHWEST AIR FLOW CONTINUES TO DELIVER 2-4" OF ADDITIONAL MOUNTAIN SNOW BEFORE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN FROM THE EAST FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. A FEW OF THOSE MOUNTAIN FLURRIES WILL LINGER INTO THURSDAY EVENING MAKING TOTAL SNOWFALL 10-12" BEFORE FINALLY DRYING OUT THURSDAY NIGHT. GUSTY WINDS WILL COMBINE WITH TEMPS IN THE MID TO UPPER TEENS TO BRINGS WIND CHILLLS DOWN TO AROUND -5(F). BLOWING SNOW MAY CREATE SNOW-COVERED ROADWAYS & COMPOUND ALREADY HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS, ESPECIALLY IN HIGHER ELEVATIONS. HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR MONONGALIA & MARION COUNTIES REMAIN IN EFFECT. WINTER STORM WARNING FOR MOUNTAIN COUNTIES REMAINS IN EFFECT, WHILE WWA REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR MANY SURROUNDING COUNTIES.
UPPER AIR PATTERN WILL TREND TO A MORE ZONAL FLOW, BRINGING GENERALLY MILD CONDITIONS THURSDAY & FRIDAY. COLD AIR HAS SUNK INTO PLACE BEHIND THE FRONT & TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN IN THE TEENS AND 20S THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. GRADUAL WARMING TREND WILL PUT TEMPS IN THE MID TO UPPER 30S THIS WEEKEND. BUT ANOTHER WEATHER MAKER WILL BRING SNOW THIS WEEKEND & POSSIBILITY FOR MIXED PRECIP FOR THE FIRST PART OF NEXT WEEK. TEMPS RISE TO THE 40S BEFORE MIDWEEK NEXT WEEK.


Looky here! At the moment, Florida is the only state in the country that DOES NOT have snow(Hawaii has snow-topped peaks!

Unsettled week of weather on tap...High pressure will exit stage right Monday as a cold front pushes east across the Midwest. Points east of the Ohio River will stay dry & generally sunny Monday.Temperatures should easily hit 70 degrees in the sun! We'll see wind speeds picking up Monday into Tuesday as a steep low pre...ssure system gathers steam & crosses the Ohio Valley. Heaviest rain will hold off until around noon on Tuesday for us here, in WV. Some locally heavy rainfall could occur Tuesday. NWS will likely post flashflood advisories as things unfold later this week. A few strong showers continue into Wednesday and Thanksgiving as temps trend back to more seasonal 50s, 40s & 30s. More wet weather arrives later this week. Bottom falls out of those mild temperatures on Friday! Cold air and snow will make for interesting traveling conditions Friday and Saturday. 20s & 30s next weekend! Will refine weekend forecast later this week! Here's a look at the 5-day rainfall forecast...

Under Pressure

A shallow cold front pushed through the region early Tuesday, causing patchy drizzle across the Mountain State. Otherwise Tuesday was mostly sunny & dry. You might have noticed that dew point values bottomed out recently. Dry conditions, low dew points and the slightest breeze usually increase potential for wildfires. In fact, Gov Manchin recently issued a ban on certain types of fires for the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia (click on http://www.wvforestry.com/ for more info). The dry & warm trend will continue Wednesday. We’ll see a sun/cloud mix with temps touching the low and even mid 80s Wednesday. So use caution when burning and as always, think twice before flicking that cigarette butt!

Strong low pressure will cross the Great Lakes and Central Appalachians Thursday afternoon/evening. Expect rain, a few severe thunderstorms and strong winds to develop ahead of the front. Most of my weather models agree that there will be a strong pressure gradient with that front for Thursday. That means breezy conditions across the entire region. Models also agree on the timing and track of that front for Thursday. It’ll be a fast-moving front and much of the heaviest rainfall will occur across northern PA on this one. Here in WV, we can expect around half inch of rain to fall Thursday through early Friday. There’s a good chance for downed trees, power outages and other wind-related damage to occur especially towards eastern parts of our state. Temps Friday will hold in the mid to upper 70s.

High pressure and slightly cooler temperatures are on tap Friday through the weekend. So an interesting last half of the work week will settle down just in time for a dry & sunny weekend. With clear and calm conditions overnight Friday, bet on dense fog on Saturday morning. That souldn't do much to effect those of us en route to Milan Puskar stadium Saturday morning. Once the fog burns off we’ve got sunshine & blue skies on tap for the rest of the weekend. Expect a temperature of 72 at Kickoff against the Terrapins is set for noon!

Walk On The Mild Side

We took a walk on the mild side this week as nighttime temperatures dipped into the low 50s and even into the 40s in some places. A few scattered rain showers did manage to develop but rainfall amounts were minimal. Weather models agree that broad high pressure will make itself comfortable & camp out through the better part of next week. Humidity levels will bottom out; even the gloomiest of us will struggle to find something to complain about.

Clear and calm nights will allow some morning fog to develop over the next few mornings. Otherwise, abundant sunshine will allow daytime temps to quickly rebound from any nighttime cooling over the next few days. Daytime highs will peak in the mid to upper 90s each day. High pressure will maintain a strong foothold on much of the east coast until it breaks down Wednesday night/Thursday. At that point a low pressure trough out of the west will finally overtake the high pressure ridging. We’ll see the return of more cloudy skies and a few scattered showers Thursday.

The forecast may become a bit more complex as Tropical Storm Earl looks like it may decide to take a more westerly approach. This would definitely affect the weekend forecast as we could see substantial moisture from the east with that storm. Will keep an eye on Earl and any other weather that may develop between now and game day (WVU vs. Coastal Carolina, Saturday, September 4). For now, let’s just enjoy the summer we have left…

Shawn Householder recently rode a bicycle across the state of Iowa during the annual RAGBRAI. Here's a photo taken near Storm Lake, IA on the second day of his journey!

Feels Like Fall...For Now

Low pressure trough digging in now & giving us all it’s got. The moisture machine that has been churning up much of the east will finally push northeast. A weak cold front will combine with lingering cloud cover and northerly winds to remind us that our fleeting summer is almost gone. But alas, broad high pressure will prevail Thursday, allowin for more sunshine and temps back into the mid to upper 80s till sometime next week.

As we can see, steady cloud cover from the north has been a good temperature moderator. It kept our nighttime temps from dipping below the mid 50s. It also helped to keep daytime temps from reaching above the mid 70s. It will continue to feel like fall outside over the next day or so. Our next weather maker is trekking across the Midwest at the moment. HPC has the cold front arriving around midnight tonight. We can expect temps on the mild side and a few scattered showers until early morning Thursday. Isolated thunderstorms cannot be ruled out either. Rainfall will be minimal. We should pick up less than two-tenths of an inch through the short term.

Conditions will about face by Thursday afternoon. We’ll see a gradual warming trend through the weekend. Look for lots of sunshine and daytime highs in the mid to upper 80s through most of next week.