Severe potential FRIDAY NIGHT...and SNOW???

(updated info in RED)

Wednesday was my long travel day from Charlotte to Erwin, TN to ACA, and got back in time to partake in our windy maelstrom, or I would have posted the storm threat in advance....eeegads what a mess it made of things.

SEVERE risk 3/2 8am through 3/3 8am

We're doing it all again Friday. Above is the 'risk' threat from 8a FRI to 8a SAT from the National Weather Service (new map). The potential for severe thunderstorms will come in two stages: the first will be simple instability and individual large storm cells that could be severe, mainly from winds closing in on 60mph but also large hail (the Upstate got it's first warning at 5:45a as I am typing).  The more problematic will be the last part which should get here in a squall line like Wednesday night, the timing of which will be later tonight.  

While mountain tornadoes are rare, I expect to see rotation to be a concern, and possibly another tornado watch for ACA.  Any weakened trees could easily come down, of course, so heads up on the roads.

There is really nothing you can do except prepare for action in the case of emergency: at the very least, have flashlights and candles handy for emergency light as the power has a good chance of going out again.  I have Progress Energy on my cell phone and report outages immediately...they lost a lot of lines last night due to trees falling on powerlines and transformers.  Actually, I'll be pleasantly surprised if we don't lose power Friday night.

Now....to bring in the new kid on the block in this post:  SNOW.  No doubt this front is bringing with it much colder air that gets in here Sunday. Starting Sunday, even with the temp well above 32 degrees, some snow may fall; as it gets later in the day, temps fall to and below freezing, with snow chances continuing all night through Monday morning. At this moment, the NAM is saying a dusting to 1" for ACA, with the GFS saying 1-2".  I'll let this sit for now and address it Saturday evening.  Good news is that whatever falls, it won't stay long as temps start warming back up Tuesday.

bob