Snow? Maybe a little, maybe more, or maybe none at all

Forecasters were watching their virtual models of the atmosphere with great interest Friday night to see what details the computers offer to describe "wintry weather" that is predicted for Sunday night and perhaps a bit past midnight.

National Weather Service forecasters, who use several models to help them make their judgments, said the majority vote among the digital prognosticators was for a "winter weather threat that would be of the nuisance variety and confined primarily to the areas north of U.S. Hwy. 64." That could have rain changing to freezing drizzle.

One model, however, is giving a forecast that "is a bit more ominous." It shows, they said, "a potential for a few inches of snow accumulation all the way south to Hwy. 64, including the Triangle."

In the near term, forecasters have little doubt that rain is on the way by early evening Saturday and will be moderate to heavy through Sunday morning. It may lighten Sunday afternoon, the forecasters said, but will be back later – and that is when the guessing begins.

If the rain is going to become snow, it should happen between 7 p.m. Sunday and about 1 a.m. Monday. When and if we get snow depends on a low-pressure system that was over Mexico on Friday and is expected to scoot across the Gulf of Mexico, Alabama and Georgia and then go northeast off the North Carolina coast.