Mild Friday, but LOTS of cold air, snow, and ice are on the way

The much-ballyhooed winter storm is almost here, but first one more mild day. Today - Friday - will literally be the calm before the storm, with partly sunny skies and afternoon highs in the low 50s. Last minute preparations ahead of a week-long stretch of icy and frigid weather can take place amid decent January conditions.

The upcoming storm is currently taking shape across the western U.S. while a bitterly cold Arctic air mass sinks southward. Very cold temperatures associated with that air mass will enter Mecklenburg County tonight following the Arctic cold front. Saturday morning lows will be in the teens, and tomorrow's highs will only creep into the mid-20s. Skies will begin the day partly sunny but clouds will take over later on.

The daylight hours Saturday will be dry, with precipitation now looking to start after dark. Precipitation will continue through the day Sunday and into early Monday morning. The wintry stuff will be a mixture of snow, sleet, and freezing rain. This double paned graphic shows NWS Wakefield's current forecast totals:

The culprit for this awful mix is a "warm nose" sneaking in overhead. Even though temperatures at the surface will remain below freezing during this storm the above freezing air aloft will create sleet (bouncing pellets) and freezing rain (collecting on whatever surface it hits).

Instead of focusing on possible snow totals folks need to be aware of the impacts of freezing rain accumulating on surfaces. This graphic shows the impacts of accumulating ice:

To make matters even worse the frigid Arctic air looks to stick around most of next week, so not a lot of natural melting will occur.

So finish up those preparations during Friday's mild weather. It's gonna be a long stretch of very wintery conditions.