Forecast Last Updated at Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 6:42AM

Chilly Thursday; Snow Returns FRI PM

Sunshine prevails today, with a few more clouds arriving PM. Temperatures will be seasonably chilly after the cold start to the day. Clouds thicken on Friday with snow showers arriving during the afternoon, with a period of steadier snow late Friday afternoon and evening. Snow showers linger into Saturday morning before skies turn clear. Accumulations will be 1-4 inches for much of the High Country, 4-6 inches for most western areas, but with a few higher peaks along the NC/TN line picking up 6 inches or more. Saturday will be the coldest day of the winter so far, complete with blowing and drifting of the fresh, powdery snow.

Thursday Hi: 43 Lo: 29 Sunshine, then a few more afternoon clouds; Partly to mostly cloudy tonight; Light south wind

Friday Hi: 40 Lo: 14 Cloudy; Snow showers arriving during the afternoon with a period of steadier snow during Friday late afternoon & evening; Light NW wind increasing to 10-20 mph gusting to 35 Fri. night

Saturday Hi: 22 Lo: 13 AM snow showers, then becoming mostly clear; Very cold & windy with some blowing & drifting of snow; NW wind 15-25 mph gusting to 45, diminishing Sat. night

Sunday Hi: 37 Lo: 23 Partly to mostly cloudy; Not as cold by afternoon

Monday Hi: 45 Lo: 26 Mostly sunny; Seasonal temps

Further Out

Tuesday - Mostly sunny; Uneventful start to February; High in the mid 40s; Low in the lower 30s
Wednesday - Increasing cloudiness; Rain possible Wednesday night; High in the mid 40s; Low in the upper 30s

Forecast Discussion

High pressure maintains control of our weather today before rapid wintry changes occur Friday afternoon. An industrial-strength upper level disturbance will push a cold front into the mountains Friday afternoon, resulting in snow shower development. The vigorous nature of this disturbance will promote a period of steadier snow Friday evening as dramatically colder air pushes into the mountains.

This upper feature will ignite ocean low-pressure off the Eastern Seaboard that will turn into a Northeast/New England blizzard on Saturday. For us, lingering backwash snow showers on Saturday will yield to mostly clear skies, but a piece of Arctic air in this cyclone’s wake will promote the coldest day of the winter-to-date.

Fortunately, some moderation will begin as early as Sunday afternoon, although a follow-up disturbance in the northwest flow aloft will generate some additional cloudiness.

Next week looks milder with generally fair weather, at least to start the workweek. A milder Pacific weather system may bring precipitation of the liquid variety by the end of this forecast cycle.

Announcements

Using information from RaysWeather.Com

First, all data and forecasts on RaysWeather.Com are the intellectual property of RaysWeather.com, Inc. Here is our usage policy regarding rebroadcast or redistribution of any information from our site...

"The reader is not permitted to reproduce, retransmit, redistribute any weather data, forecasts, analysis, image, or any other product from this site to any other person or entity, in any format by any means. All information, data, and images contained on any page of this site are copyrighted by RaysWeather.Com, Inc. (unless otherwise noted) and is the property of RaysWeather.Com, Inc. Information, data, and images from this site may not be archived or stored for future use. Exceptions to this condition of use may only be made by express, written permission of RaysWeather.Com." See our Terms and Conditions page.

In short, if you do not have a written agreement with us to do so, you do not have permission to republish any information found on this site. If you work for a media entity (TV, radio, website, newspaper, etc.) and wish to republish information from this site, please contact us at raysweather.com or call our offices at 828.264.2030.