Snow Really? Winter Weather Could Hit Fayetteville, Sandhills Once Again

We've heard this story before, right? There's winter weather on the horizon for this weekend. And it could be snow.

You'd be forgiven if you just rolled your eyes. After last weekend brought us a small amount of ice, while much of the rest of the East Coast got buried in mountains of snow, it's understandable to take forecasts with a grain of salt. But this one might be a little different.

While there's still a long way to go, the right things are happening to help create what would most certainly be a snow-only event for our area on Saturday. We've waited a couple days watching model runs come through to see if the projections would start to look more certain, and that's exactly what has been happening. It's not a guarantee yet, but it's looking good.

This one is a little more complicated than last week's, but stay with us here.

The cold arctic air blast already came down and hung out with us. It hasn't really left. And it's now getting a little help from an oncoming polar vortex. So the cold temperatures are there.

Off the coast, there's a deep low pressure system building along the Gulf Stream. It's a complex mass of moisture that will be ready to burst with the right conditions.

As that starts to push its way north, that moisture will essentially be sucked inland. This is where things get complicated. If the push north happens too far out to sea, we don't see much. If the push north happens too far inland, we see rain. But if it goes right up the middle of those, snow it is.

What's happening with model projections is that the rain version of that is essentially disappearing. So at this point (and again, things change), it's all or nothing.

What is certain at this point is it's going to be cold, and SOMEWHERE it's going to snow. But will that be true for us here? Right now, it's a high likelihood.

And this wouldn't be a "oh look at that dusting on the grass" kind of scenario. We'd potentially be looking at 3-6 inches of snow if conditions are right.

We'll keep an eye on things as the week progresses. But be prepared with those sleds.