Regionwide Snow Saturday Evening
Good morning folks! The only changes made to the SNOWCAST map this morning were to increase totals regionwide and adjust some of the terrain influences, but overall if you're a snow lover the past 24 hours on the models have trended in the right direction. All of the lower elevations will see accumulating snowfall, including down to the N GA line with a 0.5 - 2" likely by sunrise on Sunday, while the highest elevations above 5000 - 6000' pick up 4 - 6" and our highest totals between 6 - 10" will be found around Mt LeConte, southern end of the Great Balsams, and Mount Mitchell as they all benefit from upslope from the main event and backend NW flow snow early tomorrow morning.
The timeline remains the same with a mix of sleet and snow breaking out by the mid - late afternoon hours from the southwest, becoming all snow as evaporative cooling takes over. Its possible our deeper valleys in Andrews, Robbinsville, Bryson City, Franklin, and Dillsboro - Cullowhee hold out with a wintry mix longer than other locations, but we do expect all snow to take over at some point this evening.
Temps today will climb to the upper 20's - low 40's depending upon elevation and clouds will begin to increase by the late morning hours. Coverage will expand from isolated by the mid afternoon to widespread by the early evening hours and accumulating snow will occur just before sunset for the higher elevations, becoming regionwide shortly after sunset. Temps bottom out to the mid 20's - low 30's tonight and coverage begins to wind down after midnight, transitioning to a NW flow around sunrise on Sunday.
As we transition to NW flow early Sunday morning, breezy conditions will take over with NW winds around 10 - 15mph, gusting to 30mph across the highest ridgelines. Sunshine takes over tomorrow by the mid - late morning hours, however the TN line may hold onto cloud cover till the early afternoon hours with light snow falling before 10am in the usual NW flow snow locations (another 0.5 - 1" possible). Temps Sunday climb to the upper 20's - low 40's depending upon elevation and bottom out to the upper teens - mid 20's Sunday night under clear skies.
Monday keeps the sunshine around and temps warm to the upper 30's - low 50's depending upon elevation, pushing even further to the low 40's - mid 50's on Tuesday under passing high clouds. We'll stop here and circle back Sunday afternoon, focusing on the Monday - Thursday timeline.
If you have any questions about how much snow your location will pick up or would like to send us an observation, email us at pj@mtnwx.com!