CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It won’t feel a lot like Christmas during the weekend preceding the holiday.
Meteorologists with the National Weather Service were calling for unseasonably warm daytime temperatures on Saturday and Sunday, temperatures that could top 70 degrees in some areas.
“Charleston and points due west and to the southwest, we may actually approach some record temperatures,” said meteorologist Joe Merchant.
The mild conditions are moving through ahead a massive cold front packing the potential for freezing rain and snow in the Midwest, possible tornadoes in the southern states and heavy rain in Appalachia. The mid-Atlantic states could see rare winter thunderstorms.
The foul weather could complicate travel along the East Coast ahead of the Christmas holiday.
Merchant said the full system would arrive in West Virginia on Sunday morning with steady, heavy rainfall expected for the duration of the day. “That’s when we’re going to see the bulk of our rainfall,” he said.
As of now, forecasters said much of the precipitation would move out of the Mountain State by Christmas Day. The National Weather Service was calling for sunny skies in many parts of West Virginia next Wednesday with temperatures in the 30s.