Friday Travelogue

The active weather pattern remains in tact across America with another fast moving storm to affect our region Friday night and Saturday morning.

Mountaineer fans leaving Friday for the Big Apple will find the going smooth all the way to Pittsburgh (I-79), Frostburg (I-68), Hagerstown (I-70) then Harrisburg (I-81) and New York. The snow will be roughly 6-12 hours behind you.

The snow will come from the same storm that rains upon Shreveport Louisiana before OU’s appearance in the Independence Bowl on Friday. Reaching Yankee Stadium by Saturday noon, the Pinstripe Bowl will be played in the wet snow.

Here at home, our morning and evening rush hours will be uneventful with some midday sun sandwiched around a cloudy start and grey finish to our Friday.

The late afternoon cloud cover will be followed by a mix of rain and wet snow Friday evening which will turn to all snow overnight into Saturday morning.

Roads will trend damp on Friday evening then slushy and slick overnight into the first light of Saturday.

Accumulations will be sight specific with Southern Ohio and Central WV (north of Huntington-Charleston) seeing mainly snow with as much as 3” in the hills. Meanwhile the local I-64 zone will be warmer so the ground will repel more of the wet snow.

Accumulations then should be scaled back in Ashland, Huntington, Charleston and St. Albans compared to Portsmouth, Gallipolis, Ripley and Spencer.

I-64 from Morehead to Lexington and Louisville looks to snow harder longer, so a slushy 3” may well accumulate between 10pm Friday and dawn Saturday.

Through the southern Coalfields, rain Friday evening will end as wet snow with a coating likely for first light on Saturday.

If you are traveling the WV turnpike and I-77 north out of Charleston and I-64 into the Greenbrier Valley, visibility will be lowest overnight into early Saturday with enough slushy accumulation to slow you down. Likely 2”-4” will accumulate in this zone.

Even though snow showers will be sporadic on Saturday, the rising sun will turn most slushed over roads wet by mid morning.

Check with Brandon for any new ideas on snow accumulations and travel conditions.