The National Weather Service says Tuesday might be an interesting day to try to get around. The winter storm alert starts at 9 p.m. tonight. While the forecast for us is 1 to 4 inches, there is potential for this to be a really heavy snowstorm. From the NWS forecast discussion:
WITH FRONTOGENETIC FORCING TO THE NORTH AND NORTHWEST OF THE 700 AND 850 LOW. PARTIAL THICKNESSES AND FORECAST SOUNDINGS SHOW A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW QUICKLY CHANGING OVER TO ALL SNOW BETWEEN 00 TO 06Z TUESDAY AS ENTIRE COLUMN COOLS TO BELOW FREEZING. THIS WILL SUPPORT AN ALL SNOW
EVENT. PRECIP IS EXPECTED TO SPREAD INTO THE SW PIEDMONT AS EARLY 00Z…BUT THE STRONGEST LIFT AND HEAVIES QPF LOOKS TO OCCUR FROM MIDNIGHT THROUGH MID MORNING TUESDAY. WIDESPREAD SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES ARE EXPECTED WITH THE THE PROVERBIAL SWEET SPOT EXTENDING SOUTH AND EAST OF THE TRIANGLE…CAPABLE OF SEEING 4 TO 6 INCHES. IF THE 12Z MODELS STAY IN LINE WITH PREVIOUS RUNS…THE WATCH WILL BE LIKELY UPGRADED TO A WINTER STORM WARNING BY NOON.…IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE…THAT MODELS COULD BE TRACKING THE BOMBING SURFACE LOW TOO QUICKLY OFFSHORE…AS DEEPENING SYSTEM COULD SLOW DOWN AND TRACK WEST OF CURRENT FORECAST (CLOSER TO THE COAST) AS IT MOVES INTO THE HIGHLY BAROCLINIC ZONE OF THE GULF STREAM. THIS WOULD RESULT IN MUCH HEAVIER SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ACROSS THE AREA…WITH HEAVY SNOWFALL ISLANDS REMINISCENT OF THE RECORD JANUARY 25 2000 SNOWSTORM(FOR FURTHER DETAILS GO TO HTTP://WWW.ERH.NOAA.GOV/RAH/EVENTS).