Cold wet weekend ahead but some ice for the mountians

This upcoming weekend is going to be one for good books, good movies and good coffee. Cold high pressure to our north will wedge a dry and cold air mass up against the mountains. While this is going on a low pressure system will approach from the west spreading moisture up and over this cold dome of air. The results will be cloudy, cold and wet conditions just about all weekend long. Though for one area up against the Blue Ridge Mountains there could be some wintry weather in the form of ice. The HPC shows the probabilities of ice and the amount of rain/precipitation that will fall

Ice Probabilities

                  Precipitation Forecast                         NAM Model Precip Type Sunday morning

This is a look at the NAM model sounding from the Bufkit. Lets hope that this model doesn’t verify because those red bars are hours of freezing rain and over 1.00” of it.

So here is what I’m thinking if that cold dry air get trapped up against the Blue Ridge and in some of the high mountain valleys. You combine that with the mechanically cooling due to lifting the moist air into the eastern upslope areas of the mountains. It will produce a mix of rain and freezing rain. I don’t expect major issues right now but if the trends stay cold and dry in Ashe and Watauga we could have some ice issues Sunday. Stay Tuned!