With the holiday shopping season officially kicked off on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday bringing shoppers out today, the roads will be filled with buyers and holiday travelers. This year, it seems the weather will not put a damper on the weekend festivities.
“It’s not going to be 80 degrees or anything, but as far as precipitation goes there’s not going to be much of anything,” said Tom Kines, Accuweather meteorologist. “Maybe a couple rain or snow showers Saturday night and into Sunday.”
Kines said the weekend weather shouldn’t cause any traveling issues in most of Monongalia County, but if you are heading east into the mountains of Preston County there could be a small accumulation at some point over the weekend, most likely Saturday night or Sunday morning. “The mountain [roads] I suspect will be slick until they are treated,” he said.
Pat Herald, meteorologist at the Pittsburgh National Weather Service, had a similar forecast, “We don’t expect too much of a problem in your area,” he said. “You have a slight chance of some light snow.”
Herald predicted the temperatures to be in the high 30s on Saturday and Sunday, and agreed there is a chance of flurries coming Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
For those planning on doing some out-of-state traveling, you might want to be cautious.
“For those people that are traveling, it’s best if you head west or south, if you start heading north or east you may run into some problems,” Kines said. “We aren’t talking 5 or 6 inches, but it might be enough to do some damage to the roads.”
Kines warned if you are headed far enough north into northwestern Pennsylvania, “they are maybe going to get several inches of snow and traffic will be very tricky up there,” he said.
As far as what to expect for the rest of the season, Kines said he expects temperatures to be fairly close to normal. Precipitation of both rain and snow will most likely be above normal this year, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to more snow overall, he said. Although if temperatures are low enough, it certainly could.
“Into next week, at least right now, the weather looks quiet,” Kines said. “Maybe a few flurries around on Monday but shouldn’t amount to anything.”
Tuesday and Wednesday should be drier days and if the sun comes out on those days it could get into the 40s, according to Kines.
