Hello everyone!

A jumbled mess of precipitation types is in progress across the area this morning as warm air has surged northward just above the surface, while cold air remains in place through the lowest few thousand feet of the atmosphere. For most of us, that means either sleet or freezing rain is falling at the moment. For eastern parts of the area, dry air in the mid levels means that the clouds can’t produce enough ice crystals to melt into freezing rain as they fall, and we’re left with freezing drizzle. While these are two distinct phenomena scientifically, they both produce the same result: slippery roads/sidewalks.

The storm’s cold front will approach from the west during the midday hours today, which will gradually replace this morning’s drizzle with actual steady precip. Initially, most of it will be in the form of freezing rain and/or sleet, but as cold air rushes in from the west, we’ll all switch over to snow for a couple hours before the arrival of drier air brings precip to an end this afternoon.

As far as temps go, cold air is dammed east of the mountains this morning, and likely won’t be moving in a hurry. It’s possible the turbulent mixing associated with the cold front could briefly bring temps from their current readings around 30 up into the mid 30’s, but any such warmth would be short-lived. Temps will fall region-wide this afternoon as gusty NW winds take over. By this evening, most of the region will see temps between the mid 10’s and mid 20’s.

-Jack