Yesterday’s weak upper level “clipper” storm did dump a bit of snow around the region, just not far enough south for us to get any.  The eternal battle of warm air vs. cold air was waged again and the warm air won over the ‘Burg this time so we saw all rain.  Unfortunately for snow lovers that scenario may play out again Friday night into Saturday as the next system approaches.  Meanwhile today (Thursday) and Friday will be sunny and warmer with near normal high temperatures topping out just over 50 degrees (F).

Then an Arctic cold front will approach Friday night, opening the door to a brief taste of Canadian air over the weekend.  The rain/snow line will again plague our forecast as it now appears that the light precipitation associated with this front will begin as rain, switch over to snow in the wee hours Saturday morning, and then end again as rain around noon Saturday.  A surface low pressure is forecast to form along this front off the Outer Banks of North Carolina but the track of the system will take it well offshore.  However, the GFS model is hinting at this system throwing a little more moisture at us later on Saturday (an effect known as “wrap around” moisture), the timing of which would coincide with colder air arriving and could spit some flakes our way Saturday evening.  I’m not holding my breath for that to happen and neither is NWS Sterling as their official forecast says nothing about that right now.

Meanwhile the temperatures Saturday through Monday will actually be a bit below normal for February, topping out in the low to mid-40′s.   But then another warmup arrives next week with forecast highs soaring to near 60 degrees by Wednesday ahead of another quick blast of colder air.  The roller coaster continues.