Weather Headlines

An unseasonably cold air mass dominates the mountain region through Saturday. It then warms to seasonal cold by Sunday and to unseasonably mild once again by early to middle portions of next week.

The good news. Dry weather will finally give the soggy landscape a break until unseasonably warm air returns (of course). Well, mostly, as there will be a chance for some light showers Monday.

Reference Mid-Winter 2020_High Knob Massif for updated precipitation, with February 2020 marking the third consecutive one to reach double digit precipitation at upper elevations in the High Knob Massif.

Warmer air brings more rain. The potential for more significant rain exists, but it is too early to determine amounts. A trend toward colder air is currently being predicted for the final week of February.

Frigid Saturday Morning In Mountain Valleys

Conditions ideal for radiational cooling and the collection of cold air in mountain basins and valleys have been limited during the wet pattern of Winter 2019-20.

Air will be bone dry in the 900-800 MB zone, centered around 850 MB, which will favor the coldest conditions developing in upper elevation valleys.

Winds will remain light through Friday evening, allowing for nocturnal inversion formation. Speeds at 850 MB are then predicted to increase by Saturday AM, but deeper valleys and basins (in particular) should be able to remain decoupled from mean flow.

This should set the stage for the coldest minimums since 22 January when classic frost pockets in upper elevation basins dropped to within a few degrees of zero (a little below to a little above the goose egg). An exception was Burkes Garden, which was not able to fully decouple, with a minimum of only 9 degrees.