Good Sunday morning to one and all...

High pressure returns to the area today, finally shutting off the snow-guns and returning us to an increasing share of sunshine. This doesn't happen all-at-once though, because (as indicated by the windflow when following the gray pressure lines) we still yet have some lingering air flow coming in off the lakes.

HPC - Surface Map - Sunday Afternoon

Monday looks even better. Then comes the next storm system that carries with it a bit of buzz. Before I get to that though, I think it's useful to take a look at the results of our last week of errant rain/drizzle/ice/snow. This is measured from satellite, so it's a little difficult to pinpoint certain ranges, but it is still informative.

NOHRSC - Snow Depth - 3/2/13

The snow from the past several days was yet another one of those 'upslope' events where much of the River City lowlands got a whole lot of nothing, and every quick coating melted, but at elevation in the WV mountains as much as 10" of snow falls. In fact, there are several reporting stations out that way with more than a foot of snow on the ground here in March. The WV mountains are on pace to finish the season with an above-normal snowfall.

And the southern mountains are certain to add to their total early next week. Here's how the models are looking at it now...

NAM - Tuesday Afternoon	GFS - Tuesday Evening	GFS - Tuesday Evening

There's a lot of consistency among the models now in the following: A low pressure system cuts out of the Rockies and passes south of us through the Ohio Valley. As it approaches, warm air out ahead of it will keep us in the rain category initially. Once we get to Wednesday, the low will be redeveloped on the other side of the Appalachians, and begin to funnel in colder air behind. This will be when our snowfall opportunity arises. As with the past storms that follow this pattern, we'll have to see just how much moisture is left in place when the cold air gets here. The current thinking is the following, as supplied by the GFS model output:

GFS - Model Projected Snowfall - By Wednesday

Shall I draw your attention to the split between the accumulating snows along I-70 and those of the southern WV Mountains? I like the snowfall prospects for the Beckley area with this one the most, but it's still possible that enough moisture gets thrown back into the cold air for some light amounts farther west. Beyond this storm comes another break, so we'll be focusing on this one for a little while.

Update - While most of the tracking maps have come back into working order, the "7-Day" graphic (perhaps among some others) still hasn't been functioning/updating properly. I believe it has something to do with the hamsters back in the computer room at the station. I do know it's being worked on. Hopefully it will be resolved by Monday. The radar below at left is still not working correctly, but the redundant one on the right is-- so use that one :-)

Regional Radar/Satellite with Warnings Tracking	Accuweather Radar

From the Storm Prediction Center (below): Click For a Larger Image

Activity Overview	Storm Outlook	Watches	Potential Watches	Storm Reports

Temperatures	HD Doppler Radar	Estimated Rainfall	Active Warnings
Click For Larger	Click For Interactive Radar	Click For Larger	Click For Larger

Have a great day everyone!

-B

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