Wind, Rain and Snow for the Appalachians

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

December 20,2012; 5:51AM,EST

A storm with rain, a wintry mix and wind will end as snow and a blast of cold air in the central Appalachians prior to the end of the week.
The storm bringing a blizzard to part of the Midwest and severe weather to the South will bring a dose of windswept rain to the central Appalachians into this Thursday evening. In some locations the rain will begin as wet snow, or a mix of rain, sleet and snow, then change to rain.
However, cold air sweeping in may catch up with the back edge of the rain in some areas later Thursday night. As a heads-up, roads could get icy.
In the worst, or best case scenario (depending on your point of view), there could be several inches of snow.

Odds favor just a dose of wind and rain, followed by lake-effect snow Friday into Saturday in the traditional areas with roads drying off in the valleys. In the mountains and plateau areas, the strong winds, snow and squalls can make for very low visibility and slippery travel.

In that lake-effect setup, the mountains of West Virginia, western Maryland and western Pennsylvania could pick up 6 to 12 inches of snow.

At any rate a period of gusty winds will mark the passage of a strong cold front. Wind gusts during the frontal passage and in the wake of the front into Saturday can cause sporadic power outages, downed tree limbs and send unsecured items airborne. West to northwest wind gusts can top 50 mph over the ridges and through the gaps in the mountains and range between 40 and 50 mph in the valleys.