Can’t speak for everyone else out there but the general reaction around here when a new weather forecast erupts is: “Now what?”
Now the National Weather Service and the doomsday weather forecasters are claiming another “winter storm” is on its way to the area and will arrive early Monday with sleet, freezing rain and, yes, snow.
This, of course, will follow a taste of Spring on Sunday with high temperatures before the moisture sets in.
As usual with the weather around here, the most-often asked question is: “What the hell is going on?”
Perhaps hell is freezing over. Could happen with all the cold temperatures.
Perhaps Mother Nature is going through menopause. God knows, she’s old enough.
Perhaps it is simply climate change — the climate change that the rabid right claims doesn’t exist.
Or perhaps it is simply what my grandfather used to always say about the weather: “Don’t like the weather? Just wait. It will change.”
Here’s what the National Weather Service says:
.. Winter Weather Advisory In Effect From 7 Am To 7 Pm Est Monday…
The National Weather Service In Blacksburg Has Issued A Winter Weather Advisory For Snow And Sleet… Which Is In Effect From 7 Am To 7 Pm Est Monday.
* Locations… Areas South Of Line From Hinton… To Rich Creek… To Roanoke… To Charlotte Court House Line.
* Hazard Types… Snow And Sleet.
* Accumulations… Snow Accumulation Of 1 To 3 Inches… Sleet Accumulations Up To 1 Inch… Mainly Across Piedmont Counties.
* Timing… 10 Am To 6 Pm Monday.
* Impacts… Untreated Roads And Surfaces Will Quickly Become Slick And Hazardous Monday Morning.
* Winds… Northeast 5 To 15 Mph With Gusts Up To 30 Mph.
* Temperatures… 35 North To 45 South At Daybreak… Falling To The Mid 20S To Upper 20S By Noon… Then Into The Upper Teens North To Lower 20S South By 6 Pm.
Precautionary/Preparedness Actions…
A Winter Weather Advisory Means That Periods Of Snow… Sleet… Or Freezing Rain Will Cause Travel Difficulties. Be Prepared For Slippery Roads And Limited Visibilities… And Use Caution While Driving.
Says Kevin Myatt at The Roanoke Times:
Here’s the setup: A series of fast moving, fairly weak but wet low-pressure systems are squirting northeastward along an Arctic frontal boundary. The first couple of these will pass to our northwest, sweeping in springlike warmth on Sunday, while spreading moisture into cold air for widespread snow and ice in much of the Midwest and Ohio Valley. Another wave advances northeast to develop rain in our region late Sunday night and early Monday morning … then the final and strongest wave begins moving on a track to our south as Arctic air rushes in — first southward, then more typically southeastward — early Monday. As this occurs, rain changes to sleet (maybe some brief freezing rain) and then snow during Monday morning, likely everywhere in Southwest Virginia by late morning.
Back in the dark ages that is also known as childhood for those of us in the now exalted status of “seniors,” I remember pastor Brian Childress announcing from the pulpit of Slate Mountain Presbyterian Church that “snow is the dandruff of the Lord.”
Which begs the followup question: Is snow is the deity’s dandruff, then what is rain? Sweat? Or something more primal?
