Saturday, October 27, 2012

Snow (not accumulating) in Charlotte forecast

The super storm expected to wallop the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast early next week is being billed by meteorologists as potentially historic, and that might include the Charlotte region -- in the form of snow.

There's no need to get all excited.  We're not talking about a foot of snow on the ground for Halloween.

But the National Weather Service says that when the big storm -- a hybrid of Hurricane Sandy and a mainland low pressure system -- moves across New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania late Monday and early Tuesday,  it could send a mix of rain and snow showers into the Charlotte region.

Several inches of snow are predicted for the North Carolina mountains Monday night and Tuesday morning, with up to 6 inches falling in the higher peaks. Most areas above 3,000 feet could see some accumulating snow from this system.

In addition to the snow and influx of very cold air, circulation around the super storm is expected to be strong enough to cause damaging wind gusts in the high country. A High Wind Watch has been posted for the northwest mountains, where forecasters say sustained northwest winds of 30 to 40 mph, with gusts to 60 mph, are possible.

That will bring down trees and power lines.

Father south, in the lower altitudes, the nasty weather is expected to develop Monday night, as the super storm moves inland.

Forecasters say a weak low pressure system is predicted to sweep through the region, bringing a chance of precipitation. As of Saturday afternoon, meteorologists at the National Weather Service office in Greer, S.C., say the precipitation could fall as snow showers in the hours shortly before and after daybreak Tuesday.

Temperatures would be a few degrees above freezing, but if it snows hard enough for a short time, it could cause a trace of accumulation. And that would be historic.

The earliest measurable snowfall in Charlotte history came on Oct. 31, 1887, when a trace was reported in the city. If a trace were to be measure Tuesday morning, we'd eclipse the record by a day.

Incidentally, it will be breezy here in Charlotte, too.  Meteorologists are thinking now that the storm will make landfall in New Jersey, rather than in Delaware as some earlier forecasts indicated.  A New Jersey landfall would lessen the chances of damaging wind gusts reaching our region, but we'll still likely experience gusts of up to 30 mph Monday night and Tuesday.

The really devastating effects of this storm will be felt north of Charlotte, and we'll be lucky to escape all that. But the storm is strong enough and large enough to affect our weather, several hundred miles away.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I amazed that we are even around to know about this super goliath human race killer of a storm, weren't we all supposed to be dead by now from the Pandemic known as the Swine Flu that the media insisted was going to wipe humanity off the face of the earth a couple years ago?

Bill said...

Right on time, the trolls come out with the snark. Aren't you the same troll who insulted Steve last week when he began forecasting the potential impact of Sandy?

Seems to me, Steve and his colleagues deserve an acknowledgement that they were pretty darn accurate.

Also, I'd suggest you stop acting like a 13 year old and take the time to educate yourself on the potential of epidemiological outbreaks. To keep it simple, start with the 1918 Spanish Flue.

Anonymous said...

All that hot air coming out of Mitt Romney is what is causing this storm. When will these hillbillies learn to keep their mouths shut? heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh. Stupid hillbilly lying hick ass redneck republicans.

Anonymous said...

Hey Bill, wife still got you cut off eh?

Anonymous said...

It looks like the cold front coming from the west is getting pushed southward by the storm and something huge is pushing the storm inland coming from the east, what is it thats pushing it inland so sharply?

Bill said...

-Anon@5:48PM

My wife passed away 17 months ago.
Hope you have a wonderful evening.

Anonymous said...

3:35 - you blow enough hot air to cause global warming all by yourself.

After 25 of these Carolina summers, this Ohio native relishes any snowfall, whether it accumulates or not. Hopefully it will be falling at 6 AM when I leave for work. Just for the fun of it.