White Christmas possible locally
Times-Tribune staff
The chance of a white Christmas is looking favorable for Troy and nearby communities. It’s also shaping up to be a very cold holiday weekend, as a major arctic blast descends from Canada to the Midwest.
The beginning of the week will see mostly seasonable weather, even a little on the warm side for this time of year, with temperatures on Tuesday reaching a high of 41-degrees and a low on Tuesday night of about 25-degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Wednesday will also see mild temperatures with a high of 36-degrees and a low around 30-degrees. After midnight Wednesday, however, there is a 40% chance of snow in the forecast.
According to the forecast, Thursday should see a high of 34-degrees. The chance of snow on Thursday is 90%. The NWS Thursday forecast also notes patchy blowing snow is possible after 8 p.m., which could make travel difficult.
As the cold air mass moves in, temperatures are expected to plummet to a low of 0-degrees Thursday night, with the chance of precipitation lowering to 50% that evening.
Waking up on Friday, readers will see dangerously cold temperatures around the 0-degree mark. A high of 7-degrees is expected for the day, with a 20-percent chance of snow before noon. The low Friday night is expected to reach 2-degrees below zero.
Snowfall totals for the event overall have been mixed and are uncertain as of press time, with some outlets reporting 1-3 inches and some others reporting 3-5 inches. The NWS on its weather discussion page writes its possible warmer temperatures pushing above freezing on Thursday ahead of the arctic air could impact precipitation totals.
“This will obviously have implications on snowfall totals and leads to further uncertainty in the forecast,” the NWS states. “Given that uncertainty, it remains difficult to pin down a snowfall forecast.”
Whatever precipitation does fall on Thursday and early Friday will likely stick around in the days after. On Saturday, Christmas Eve, the high is expected to top out at around 12-degrees with a low of negative 1-degree.
Christmas Day, Sunday, is also expected to see very cold temperatures with a high of 18-degrees.
