5pm update....

Radar returns are certainly impressive upstream over Georgia and the Deep South. Sure looks like this system could over-perform at bit tonight in terms of precip amounts.

The air is cold and dry....dewpoints are in the mid to upper teens in many spots. So I still expect a period of sleet, and maybe even some snow in spots, as the precip moves in, with the best chances being along and west of roughly I-85.

A Winter Weather Advisory has been hoisted up in the mountains and the adjacent foothills for tonight, and certainly some accumulation of sleet and even snow are quite possible there.

In the Piedmont, the sleet will kick over to rain, and freezing rain in spots that can wet bulb below freezing. I don't expect any major accumulations, but a dusting of sleet or a glazing on some elevated surfaces can't be ruled out.

Bit of wintry precip tonight....frigid this weekend

Above is today's edition of the Carolina Weather Video. Give it a look...

Dry through the day today...although you will likely see some returns on the radar, most of it shouldn't be able to reach the ground until this evening.

Precip will settle in this evening and tonight, and as that occurs, temps in many spots could drop to at or below freezing. Some sleet or freezing rain looks possible for a while, but I don't think this is a huge problem. But we will keep an eye on it.

Tomorrow now looks mainly dry, although some drizzle could occur at times.

A frigid airmass will arrive this weekend, and it should largely stick around through next week. At the moment, it looks like storm systems will remain suppressed to our south, meaning cold and dry weather. But this is the type of pattern where you have to watch for surprises.

Lots of cold air....

Give the video above a look....lots and lots of cold air on the way. One storm system moves through Thursday, and I show you what wintry precip might be involved in a few spots on the front and back end of it. Right now, all if it looks insignificant outside of the mountains.

Early next week, the European model pops some snow around the region while most other modeling is dry. I show you why in today's video....

Cold air here to stay....

Today will be chilly and breezy with highs in the low to mid 40s under a partly cloudy sky. This is the next in a continued series of blasts of cold air headed our way. Lows tonight will drop well down into the 20s, and highs tomorrow will only be in the lower 40s despite a sunny sky.

Clouds will roll in Wednesday, with the next shot at precip arriving later Wednesday night. As the precip moves in, an initial period of freezing rain looks possible, but at this point I expect it to be brief and fairly insignificant.

A chilly rain could linger through much of Thursday, and then as another piece of energy dives in, if we can keep precip around long enough into Thursday night, a period of light snow would be possible. But that portion of the forecast is surrounded by question marks.

What is not in question is the cold air coming over the New Year's weekend. This will likely be the coldest air so far this season with some highs in the 30s and lows in the teens.

There is the potential for another system around next Tuesday or so that bears watching.

I see no end to the cold and occasionally storm pattern right through mid-January.

Christmas weekend....

Nice shot this morning from Haywood county.....



Enjoy the rest of your Christmas weekend. Yep, still watching the happenings for next week. Will be back on a normal schedule Monday morning with a new video and full blog post....

Merry Christmas!

God's richest blessings to you and yours on this Christmas!

Icy Christmas morning in the mountains and foothills....here is a shot up in Boone on Highway 321....similar scenes are unfolding all over the higher terrain this morning....

Icy Christmas morning on the way in the mountains, foothills, and extreme northwest Piedmont

A major storm system continues to cause anything from blizzard conditions in the Plains to the western Great Lakes to tornadic activity in the southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley.

Around the Carolinas, a quiet Christmas Eve is unfolding with highs in the mid to upper 40s for most with some increasing clouds.

Rain will spread into the region later tonight, and in the mountains, foothills, and extreme northwest Piedmont, temperatures will drop to at or below freezing, meaning freezing rain will occur. This could be a significant ice event for the mountains and the northern foothills, but I think for much of the northwest Piedmont, the temperature should relatively quickly warm above freezing, ending the icing potential there. However, a different story in the foothills and mountains, and some significant icing is possible by Christmas morning.

Christmas Day will feature rain around the region, and some storms are even possible from the southern Piedmont through the coastal plain.

The weekend will be quiet and cool, and then another shot of cold air arrives by later Sunday and Monday.

Next week still looks interesting. I still think there is a potential wintry-weather making system on the table late Wednesday or Thursday, and the pattern remains very active through the first week to ten days of January.

I wish you and yours the warmest and merriest of Christmases. God bless.....