At 5 am...mostly cloudy. Temperature around 32. Southeast winds around 5 mph. At 7 am...cloudy. Temperature around 33. Southeast winds around 5 mph. At 9 am...cloudy with a slight chance of rain and snow. Temperature around 34. Southeast winds around 5 mph. At 11 am...cloudy with a chance of rain and snow. Temperature around 35. Southeast winds around 5 mph. At 1 PM...rain and snow likely. Temperature around 36. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. At 3 PM...rain and snow. Temperature around 36. East winds around 5 mph.
Forecast for McDowell
Updated: 4:39 am EST on December 18, 2009
Winter Storm Warning in effect from 4 PM this afternoon to 6 am EST Sunday...
Today
Cloudy. Rain and snow...mainly this afternoon. Snow accumulation up to 1 inch. Near steady temperature in the mid 30s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 90 percent.
Snow. Snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches. Lows in the upper 20s. East winds 5 to 10 mph...becoming northeast after midnight. Chance of snow near 100 percent.
Saturday
Snow. Additional snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches. Highs in the lower 30s. West winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent.
... Winter Storm Warning in effect from 4 PM this afternoon to 6 am EST Sunday...
The National Weather Service in Charleston has issued a Winter Storm Warning for heavy snow... which is in effect from 4 PM this afternoon to 6 am EST Sunday. The Winter Storm Watch is no longer in effect.
A major winter storm will impact much of the region from later this afternoon into Saturday night. A very strong low pressure center will track from the Gulf of Mexico northeast to the southeast coast by this evening... .and then up the East Coast through Saturday night. Significant precipitation will be thrown well north and west of the low center.
Precipitation will advance northward into the southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia mountains by mid afternoon... and quickly overspread the remainder of the mountains by early tonight. It will start off as rain or a rain and snow mix this afternoon... but quickly change over to all snow by Friday evening.
The precipitation will remain all snow as it continues into Saturday. Altogether... the heaviest snow accumulations are expected to occur from Friday night into Saturday. Snow accumulations of 6 to 10 inches are likely by dawn Saturday.
Total snowfall accumulation potential will range from 12 to 18 inches for the mountain counties of West Virginia and southwest Virginia before tapering off Sunday morning.
Heavy snow will make travel conditions extremely hazardous if not impossible. All unnecessary travel should be avoided. If you must travel... use your headlights... drive at slower speeds... and allow extra time to reach your destination. Leave with a full tank of gas... and carry an emergency survival kit including food... water... and blankets.