Rain? Snow? Ice? What’s in Store for Charlotte This Weekend

It's the million dollar question right now around Charlotte: What is happening with the weather this weekend? And as always seems to be the case with our area, the answer is about as reliable as a Magic 8 Ball: Outlook hazy.

Here's what we know: A significant winter weather event is moving its way across the country as you read this. A low-pressure system with a lot of moisture in it just had a lovely vacation in Baja California, and now it's headed this way to bring precipitation to a lot of its friends across the country. At the same time, his colder-climate cousin, a pressure system coming down from Canada, is bringing some cold weather home from its trip up north.

What gets tricky is when and where those two friends start to meet up for drinks. That convergence will mean a world of difference between mountains of snow for many parts of the country, to sleet and ice for some others.

Around Charlotte, the current forecast of that collision is showing a whole lot of boundary stuff that won't get any clearer anytime soon.

There isn't a whole lot certain for our region on this storm. There are some models that are showing the storm shifting back south, and that could mean greater impacts. But what we do know is that we will have cold weather, and we will have precipitation. Snow doesn't seem to be happening in big numbers in this. Maybe a little. But a mix of sleet and freezing rain should be plentiful.

But where that could be a bad thing for our area is if that turns into a lot of freezing rain. That's our worst-case scenario right now.

Freezing rain with the amount of moisture potentially held in this storm system would be cripping for much of the region. Power outages would be a certainty for many. And with prolonged cold temps, they could go on for a few days.

As of right now, we'll likely start seeing some of the precipitation during the day Saturday, and that could extend all the way into Monday. What you're seeing today is actually mostly unrelated to all this other mess. The National Weather Service has us under a Winter Weather Watch at this point for Saturday morning through Monday afternoon. Expect that to become a Warning tomorrow.

For now, there's not a whole lot of major concern. We need to see more information to see if we're in just a cold rain/sleet scenario (which would be good), or a freezing rain scenario (which would be bad).

You don't need to make a run on Walmart to stock up on everything. But you need to make sure you do have important things like medicines, etc just in case. We'll know more by morning Friday about what you need to do after that.

Wouldn't hurt to go put gas in all your cars right now too. You don't want to be chasing that later.

There's a chance we'll have extended power outages, and several days of icy conditions. If the worst-case models come through, there will almost certainly be school closures, etc.

But for now, just make sure your portable chargers are ready, your extra blankets are out of storage, your heating vents are all changed out, and that you have a plan in place if things get bad.