A damp, dreary Thursday will morph today into a frosty, snow-filled introduction to the weekend, according to Dave Dombek, senior AccuWeather meteorologist.
Due to the cooling temperatures and predicated precipitation, the West Virginia Department of Education on Thursday evening reported that Monongalia County schools will be on a 2-hour delay, while Preston County and Marion County schools will be closed. The WVDE website stated the Preston closure is “due to winter weather conditions and increased illness cases.” Also according to the WVDE website, Marion is closed due to influenza outbreak.
On Thursday, Dombek said, “the colder air will come in late tonight, about 2 or 3 [a.m.] and by the time you get to daybreak, it will be down close to freezing on the ground. And the temperatures aloft, 3,000 to 5,000 feet up, are going to be cooling down as well. The rain will turn to snow.”
While Morgantown is expected to get between 1-3 inches of snow today, Preston County is anticipated to get roughly twice that, with 3-6 inches.
“Whatever Morgantown gets, you can pretty much double it for Preston,” Dombek said.
“Do expect snow in the air for the first half of the day,” he said, adding that main roads in Morgantown will be wet, while side roads may get slushy. “You’ll see more snow accumulation on grassy areas, back decks, tree branches.”
In terms of the temperature, he said, “what it’s at at daybreak is going to be the high for the day. So if it’s 32, it’s not going to go anywhere.”
Tonight, temperatures could dip into the 20s, and perhaps the teens, if the cloud cover clears.
“Roads could be an issue, even though the snow is over, because they’ll still be wet and could get slick,” Dombek said.
Saturday afternoon, he said, could get up to 37 degrees, followed by a milder Sunday in the low- to mid-40s.
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