Rain, not snow, in forecast for Hampton Roads
Storm expected to tap into moisture from Gulf of Mexico
A winter storm is expected to make its way to the East Coast this weekend, but Hampton Roads will largely avoid any icy impacts.
According to the National Weather Service in Wakefield, the Saturday-to-Saturday-night time frame has a potential for a low-pressure system bringing widespread rain and even some wintry mix to some of the counties west of Interstate 95.
“Starting the new year here, it does look like we’re heading into a little more of an active weather pattern as we get through the through the first week of the new year here, and then even looking out ahead and potentially next week as well,” said Andrew Zimmerman, lead forecaster at the weather service in Wakefield.
The cross-country storm has begun moving east, heading toward the Mountain West on Thursday and Friday, according to forecasters at AccuWeather.
Once passing the Southern Plains, the storm is set to strengthen across the South into early Saturday, tapping into moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. After that, the storm is expected to turn toward the northeast.
Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist, said many storms that approach the mid-Atlantic from the south tend to pull warm air in from the Atlantic Ocean, often leading to an abbreviated period of snow or wintry mix. Water temperatures in the nearby Atlantic are generally in the 40s, so an east-to-northeast wind from the water will bring that milder air inland.
“(This weekend) could be the potential for the first impactful winter weather we’ve seen in about two years, since last winter ended up being extremely quiet outside for one kind of localized, brief event,” Zimmerman said.
Folks in southeast Virginia have a larger chance of rain this weekend. In Virginia Beach there is a 100% chance of rain during the day Saturday and 50% chance Saturday night before 1 a.m. Low temperatures could reach 37 degrees.
On the Peninsula forecasts are similar, and areas toward Suffolk and Franklin will have temperatures drop to about 34 on Saturday night.
“If we look a little more statewide … we see the best potential with this system up through the Shenandoah Valley and mountains up into Northern Virginia (and) D.C.,” Zimmerman said.
“That area at this time looks to have the various potential impacts from this system, but as we move into our our forecast area specifically, you can see that area from Farmville to Louisa probably has the best potential. Once we get to the Richmond metro area, and also the Salisbury area, they’re all on the fringes at this point.”