MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — As the eastern panhandle continues to recover from a surprisingly strong weekend snow storm, another one may be brewing for this weekend.
Complications came when a second round of snowfall came unexpectedly at around 5 Sunday evening. Primary roads were treated and mostly plowed up until that point.
“Everything was taken care of in advance, then the second round came,” Barry Knotts with the state Department of Highways told MetroNews affiliate WEPM.
Snow total at 5 pm near Martinsburg. A second band of has arrived and accumulating.
Berkeley, Jefferson County Schools closed Monday. @WVMetroNews @WEPM_EP pic.twitter.com/LE2LPz4HWA
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“So that was kind of the upper level part of the system,” said National Weather Service DC/Baltimore Meteorologist Kyle Pallozzi. “So there was like a surface low that kind of tracked to our southeast. It produced the first round of precipitation and then last evening, the upper level system came through and produced another round of snow.”
Unofficial numbers from the National Weather Service’s DC/Baltimore office report 11.7 inches of snow fell in Martinsburg as of 10 Sunday night. Capon Bridge in Hampshire County had 10 inches, Shepherdstown in Jefferson County registered at 7, Smith Crossroads in Morgan County 4.7 inches and Keyser in Mineral County at 5.8 inches.
Here is the latest snowfall reports from across the area: https://t.co/4BRSYH8AWY #DCwx #MDwx #VAwx #WVwx
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The high for Monday was expected to get up to 36, but the concern comes later. A forecasted low of 21 could cause melted snow on roadways to refreeze, creating slick conditions for the Tuesday morning commute.
“That would be the main concern really the next couple of days because it’s going to be similar. (It will) get up to the mid-upper 30’s to near 40 and then drop back into the 20’s at night. So that refreeze will definitely be an issue.”
Pallozzi said while eastern panhandle residents continue to dig out from last weekend’s storm, a new threat is on the horizon for later this week.
“Basically, the next couple of days look pretty quiet. But late Thursday into Thursday night, there is a chance for another period of precipitation. It will probably be pretty light but it could be in the form of snow or a wintry mix. It kinds of depends on exactly how the storm tracks and how warm it is.”
Current models show a mix of rain, snow and sleet for Saturday through Sunday. Pallozzi said this storm’s severity will depend solely on how it develops.
“This weekend it looks like a more significant storm. But it’s a little too far out to pin down an exact track since it’s still six days out. So it looks like there’s going to be a strong storm, it’s just the exact track it takes will determine whether we get wintry precipitation or whether it’s mostly rain.”
Berkeley, Jefferson, Morgan, Grant, Hampshire, Mineral and Hardy County Schools were all closed Monday. Shepherd University initially delayed classes until noon but later announced they would remain closed for the remainder of the day. WVU Potomac State College in Keyser resumed classes at 10:30 Monday morning.