Good Thursday, everyone. We are dealing with a winter looking and feeling pattern settling in for the next week or so. This setup will bring some very cold air into our region and will also throw a few snow chances our way. This has been talked about on the blog for some time, so it shouldn’t be coming as a big shock to everyone. 🙂

Clouds will increase today with a stray shower possible…

The rain chances ramp up tonight and early Friday as low pressure works across the Tennessee Valley and into the Appalachian Mountains. Winds will be gusty and the rain will be cold with snow to our north and northwest. After skies briefly dry during the afternoon hours on Friday, a weak disturbance dives in Friday evening and night and may produce a few snowflakes.

The Hi Res NAM shows some snow showers…

Temps drop into the 20s with gusty winds making it feel even colder. Check out the wind chill numbers by Saturday morning…

Brr! Highs on Saturday stay in the 30s for many areas, but wind chills stay in the 20s.

Sunday is a seasonally cold day, but the focus quickly shifts to a winter storm system developing across the eastern half of the country early next week. This system forms in the deep south and rolls up the eastern slopes of the Appalachian Mountains.

This system has the chance to bring an early season snow to our region. Chance being the key word from 4-5 days out.

Here’s how the GFS sees it…

The new version of the GFS has a similar look…

The Canadian Model is a little farther west with the track, but also has rain to light snow scenario…

Can we get a true snowfall from this system? The answer is yes, but it depends on the exact track of the low. That’s something I will be trying to nail down over the next few days.

The air with that system is absolutely frigid. Lows may hit the teens with more than one day of highs in the low and mid 30s.

Updates later today. Have a good one and take care.