Accumulating snow will make for dangerous travel on Sunday

An Alberta Clipper system moving out of the Dakotas tonight will move across our area with an extended period of steady snow Saturday night into Sunday. Since the system appears to be a little more robust, we have issued a weather warning for this period. The National Weather Service has already issued some winter weather warnings south and east of Charleston, and more counties are likely to be added on Saturday.

Although with this system the volumes are not expected to be the largest… a cold ground and the fact that Sunday is one of the bigger travel days of the year make for a dangerous combination that will make it difficult to get out to get around…especially in the morning.

Additionally, this will essentially be the first true winter test for the lowlands this season. While it snowed heavily in the mountains last Friday and Saturday, the roads in the valley were mostly wet.

It will be good for traveling locally on Saturday… just cold and chilly, although sunshine is finally returning. However, as you head west on I-64 toward Lexington and Louisville, snow begins to fall and stop there around sunset.

For us, snow should become heavier late this evening and start to really impact the roads around midnight or after midnight. This snow will fall steadily through Sunday morning and most of us will likely have 1 to 3 inches on the ground by midday. Further accumulations of snow may occur in the mountains through the afternoon.

Unlike the storm a week ago where road temperatures were still quite mild and the snow on the surface was melting… this time the flakes are sticking… and road conditions in both the mountains and valleys are getting worse in the The first half of Sunday can be very chaotic.

On Sunday afternoon, lowland roads are likely to become wetter and have some slush, although flakes will still fall at times. Conditions on the mountain roads will remain difficult… but if you can avoid driving in the morning, that would be recommended.