DELMARVA FORECAST
Friday night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the low to mid 30s.
Saturday: Mostly cloudy and mild. A few wet snow showers early become scattered and light plain rain showers for the rest of the day. Highs in the low 50s. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.
Sunday: Periods of light snow. Accumulations of up to 1 to 3 inches possible. Highs in the mid 30s. Chance of snow 80 percent.
Monday: Mostly sunny, cold, and breezy. Highs in the upper 30s.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny and very cold. Highs in the mid 20s.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny and cold. Highs in the upper 30s.
Thursday: Partly cloudy. Highs in the mid 40s.
FORECAST DISCUSSION
Normal high: 45°F. Normal low: 28°F.
Wintry weather is topping the weather headlines as we look ahead to the weekend.
After increasing clouds Friday night, a weak frontal boundary will cross Delmarva on Saturday. This will bring scattered, mainly light rain showers, that could briefly start off as some wet snow showers in the morning. Saturday will be the warmest day in the next seven days, with highs reaching the low 50s.
Then on Sunday, a coastal low pressure system will develop off the Carolina coast, bringing our next round of wintry weather. As we are now within 48 hours of this event, we're seeing two things: first, the system will stay a little farther offshore, and second, we're not expecting rapid strengthening of the low. These two factors are working to limit the amount of snow we could see. As we get into range of our intermediate-range models, we're still seeing disagreements, with some models putting out no snow for Delmarva, and the others putting out 1 to 3 inches. For now, we're going to stick with a forecast for 1 to 3 inches of snow, with the best chances of seeing the higher totals over Sussex County and the Lower Eastern Shore. Along the immediate coast and Accomack County, enough warmer air could cause some rain to mix in, limiting accumulations. Adding to the uncertainty is that afternoon highs on Sunday will reach the mid 30s, which is marginal for accumulating snow. The takeaway for now is that travel could be a bit slick on Sunday.
Then temperatures have trended colder for the beginning of next week. Despite sunshine, we're only looking at highs in the 20s and 30s, and lows well down into the teens for Monday through Wednesday.
In the long range, temperatures are expected to average below normal, and precipitation above normal for January 23 - January 29.