As I cautioned in this morning’s update, that rain/snow line that exists along the I-70 corridor has been trending a little farther north fairly consistently on the hi-res models all morning. This trend will likely result in a period of mixed precipitation Saturday afternoon. It will also have an impact on storm snow totals for our area.
Hi-res futurecast radar through 5:00 AM Sunday:
With regards to this trend, I’ve lowered snow totals for our area. Here is the updated snow forecast for this afternoon through Sunday morning:
This also means we can expect more of a rain/sleet/freezing rain period this afternoon. As temperatures become colder after sunset, ice will be a factor.
As for the lull in this afternoon’s precipitation, the 12Z (8:00 AM) NWS sounding shows a decent mid-level dry layer that needs to be overcome. My morning update went out a bit too early to include this feature.
Snow will become the primary precipitation this evening and tonight and everyone will end up with accumulating snow. Snow totals will just be slightly lower.
As for impacts, we will still see moderate impacts from snow, ice, cold temperatures as well as blowing and drifting snow.