Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.

kevin.myatt
@roanoke.com
981-3341

Weather with Kevin Myatt

Recent columns

• Winter trying again to show up with snow
• We got graupel, but not on official record
• Moisture could get caught up in cold blast
• Column archive

Read the Weather Journal blog

• Many looking past mild, quiet week toward possibly wild weekend
• Sprinkles or flurries possible Tuesday, but maybe something bigger for the weekend?
• For now, it looks like a quiet, mostly mild week ahead for SW Virginia
• Weather Journal blog

#swvawx on Twitter

@KevinMyattWx

• Follow Kevin on Twitter at @KevinMyattWx

The long, white train keeps rumbling down the tracks.

There probably will be some snow today -- a couple of inches or less in most places -- with a quick-hitting Alberta clipper system. This won't be a big deal but could cause some slick highways, especially during the short time when snow is heaviest.

There is a good chance we will see more snow by the weekend with a disturbance moving across the southern United States that may trigger a low on or near the Gulf Coast. The details of that system are far from certain, but it could be a much bigger deal than today's brush of white.

In between, chilly northwest winds will trigger rounds of snow showers in the mountain areas that usually get them. (Flurries for the Roanoke Valley, a dusting to an inch for the New River Valley, more in higher elevations to the west).

At this point, the caboose on the train isn't obvious. Below-normal temperatures with occasional precipitation threats appear to be likely right into March.

Peering past this week, some recent forecast models do try a few new tricks, such as seeming to point toward a storm system maybe going into the central U.S. rather than up the East Coast. That could bring some milder air our way for a short time.

But the bigger signals over the Arctic and North Atlantic show little significant change, holding the Arctic air over the East. That may mean these model runs are more fantasy than reality.

There simply is no sign of any kind of prolonged springlike warm-up. A relaxation of the pattern or respite from it may occur sooner or later, but it's going to take some heavy moving to knock this long, white train off its tracks.

Weather Journal runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.