CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Year 2018 will get off to a cold start in West Virginia.
“New Year’s Eve, right around the time when it’s midnight, most areas are going to be in the single digits (for temperatures) to getting to close to the zero mark if you’re in the mountainous locations,” said Simone Lewis, a meteorologist with the Charleston National Weather Service.
“It’s actually looking like these very cold temperatures are going to continue well into next week.”
Thursday began with similar below normal temperatures.
During an appearance on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline,” Lewis confirmed lows early on Dec. 28 of 7 degrees in Charleston and -2 in Elkins.
In general, “Most areas were in the single digits with below zero temperatures across some of the higher elevations,” Lewis reported.
She said an arctic high pressure system from Canada affecting much of the U.S. East Coast was getting “reinforcing shots of cold air” from weak weather systems that moved through West Virginia in the days after Christmas courtesy of the jet stream position.
Before the end of 2017, snow is in the forecast for the Mountain State along with the cold.
“Much of the lowlands will probably receive around an inch or so of snow by Saturday morning with one to three inches across the Northern Panhandle, Eastern Panhandle and north central West Virginia,” Lewis said.
Light snow was possible in northern West Virginia on Thursday night as well, according to the forecast.