Heavy Snow Overnight Tonight Leads to a Messy Morning Commute Tomorrow

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) - Good evening everyone and happy Thursday. We’ve got messy weather in the forecast overnight tonight and into the day tomorrow, looking to impact the morning commute. A low-pressure system is currently sitting off to our south and west, with snow showers working out ahead of the main system this evening. This will lead to scattered snow showers for the next few hours, before more widespread activity is expected to fill in going into the early morning hours of Friday. Cold air looks to remain in place, resulting in heavier bands of snow before sunrise, with warmer temperatures allowing for snow to transition over to rain late morning and into the early afternoon. As shower activity wraps up tomorrow evening, rain and mixed precip showers transition back over to snow showers, leaving us with cloudy skies and isolated snow shower chances going into Saturday.

The National Weather Service has issued Winter Storm Warnings for the entire county going through tomorrow afternoon and evening depending on where you are, the main threat will be the heavy snowfall expected just before the morning commute tomorrow, leading to slippery travel for everyone going into the day tomorrow. There is also the potential for icing along the central part of the county, with adds an additional threat for slippery roadways going into Friday afternoon. If you don’t have to travel going into tomorrow, it’s advised that you stay put, as roadways look like they could still be slippery going into Friday night.

Timing out the snow shower activity, light scattered snow showers are expected to continue through the rest of this evening. Steadier snow looks to start over southern Aroostook just after midnight, with it holding off until 2-3 AM for central parts of the county. These heavier bands of snow continue to push north during the morning hours, resulting in heavy snow for everyone just before the morning commute Friday. Warmer air begins to work into the region at this point, resulting in a switchover to mix and rain over southern Aroostook first just after the morning commute, with warmer air trying to work north of the central part of the county by early afternoon. This will result in a period of sleet and freezing rain Friday morning, with plain rain expected through southern Aroostook through the early afternoon. The latest computer model runs now have cold air holding on through the St. John valley and western parts of the county, resulting in an all-snow event for them. I won’t rule out the chance for some mixing in the valley completely, but right now the chances for that appear to be on the lower side. Rain and snow showers taper off to scattered activity late Friday afternoon, as colder air works into the region Friday evening, rain showers transition back over to snow showers, and become more isolated by Friday night. Cloudy skies remain in the forecast going into Saturday, along with the chances for some isolated snow showers.

High temperatures tomorrow see a wide range depending on where you are in the county. Northern and western spots that remain all snow see their high temperatures climb into the lower 30s, right around the freezing mark. Working further south, temperatures warm up into the mid and upper 30s through the central part of the county. Southern areas have the best chance of reaching the lower 40s, with some mid 40s possible over northern Washington county. Easterly winds provide warmer air during the morning hours, but eventually shift into the northeast by the afternoon, resulting in cooler air working back into the region for the evening hours.

More details on the forecast can be found in this evening’s Weather on the Web Video Forecast above. Stay safe out there!

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