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701
FXUS61 KRNK 170543
AFDRNK

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Blacksburg VA
143 AM EDT Tue Mar 17 2026

.WHAT HAS CHANGED...
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Aviation has been updated.

Extended the Winter Weather Advisory for the NC mountains into
southern WV til 8AM EDT. Extended the wind advisory along/west
of the Blue Ridge til 5am.
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&&

.KEY MESSAGES...
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1) Snow showers and blustery conditions this morning will taper
off through the day, except snow showers will likely persist in
the higher mountains into the afternoon.

2) Warming trend after Wednesday.
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&&

.DISCUSSION...
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KEY MESSAGE 1: Snow showers and blustery this morning. Snow
showers linger into the afternoon in the mountains.

Extended both wind and winter weather advisories for a few more
hours as wind gusts still exceeding 45 mph in some of the higher
terrain and adjacent valleys along/west of the Blue Ridge.

Shortwave across the central Appalachians extending southwest
into the TN Valley will keep snow showers and flurries going
through the morning in the mountains, with another inch or so
likely from the NC High Country into southern WV. Flurries could
be seen as far east as the Blue Ridge. Given this have extended
the winter weather advisory til 8am, except kept western
Greenbrier as is til 5 pm today.

It is going to stay below freezing in the mountains today, so
anticipate slick roads at times. Further east with sun angle
higher and temps at or above freezing any snow will melt off.

The strong winds this morning will diminish below advisory
levels by 5am as core of low level jet and best pressure rises
shift northeast away from the area. Still a blustery March day,
with wind chills in the single digits to start in the mountains.

Another wave this afternoon could bring another quick burst of
snow showers/flurries over the mountains but looks like a
glancing blow, with potentially another inch or so in the higher
ridges of WV.


Key Message 2: Drier with warming trend late this week.

5h trough starts to lift out by Friday with heights building
across the MS Valley. Warm front tracks across Wednesday and
some models are bringing potential light rain/snow into the
mountains, though airmass looks very dry so not leaning toward
any precip Wednesday as of this forecast.

By the weekend, pattern features more zonal flow at 5h, with
high pressure at the surface over the southeast coast into
Florida and a frontal boundary setting up from the southern
Plains into the northern Mid-Atlantic. Could see a few
showers/storms by late in the weekend, when models have the
front backdooring down. After Sunday, looks like we could wedged
in again Monday.
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&&

.AVIATION /06Z TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/...
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The mountains will likely keep sub-VFR through the morning but
at times a few windows of VFR possible. Thinking off and on snow
showers will bring vsbys at BLF and possibly LWB down to
IFR/MVFR. Snow will taper off somewhat during the day to more
scattered activity but still looking at ceiling stay in the
1-3kft range at BLF, with LWB starting to improve to VFR after
20z. BCB could drop to MVFR at times while ROA/LYH/DAN maintain
VFR.

West to northwest winds stay gusty through the day, with highest
gusts before 12z possibly up to 30-35kts at ROA/BCB.

Winds start to weaken after 00z/Wed, while BLF scatters out of
low clouds.


EXTENDED AVIATION OUTLOOK...

Mainly VFR expected through Saturday. There may be some sub-VFR
cigs with a warm front late Thursday into Saturday, but
confidence is low.
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&&

.RNK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
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VA...Wind Advisory until 5 AM EDT early this morning for VAZ011>020-
     022>024-034-035.
     Winter Weather Advisory until 8 AM EDT this morning for VAZ007-
     009-010-015.
     Wind Advisory until 2 AM EDT early this morning for VAZ032-033-
     043.
NC...Wind Advisory until 5 AM EDT early this morning for NCZ001-002-
     018.
     Winter Weather Advisory until 8 AM EDT this morning for NCZ001-
     018.
     Wind Advisory until 2 AM EDT early this morning for NCZ003-019.
WV...Wind Advisory until 5 AM EDT early this morning for WVZ044-507.
     Winter Weather Advisory until 8 AM EDT this morning for WVZ042-
     043.
     Winter Weather Advisory until 5 PM EDT this afternoon for
     WVZ508.
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&&

$$

DISCUSSION...WP
AVIATION...SH/VFJ/WP