(WOWK) — Wind advisories are out for the entire WOWK-TV viewing area for Thursday. Winds will pick up after sunrise and gusts could reach a maximum of 50 mph in some areas. It takes winds of 58 miles per hour (along with lightning) to trigger a severe thunderstorm so these are very strong wind gusts that are anticipated. There could be some spotty power outages with winds of this order.

Predictor model output for wind gusts Thursday afternoon in miles per hour.

The rain from this system will be very inconsequential compared to the wind. See the anticipated amounts below.

Predictor model output for rainfall through Saturday night

Then a new weather system comes into the region later in the weekend with the chance for rain Saturday night and some snow mainly in the mountains of southern West Virginia on Sunday morning.

GFS Model output for snow Sunday morning

Other models have the edge of the snow several hundred miles farther north and west. See the difference below with the BAMS 15 KM resolution model showing snow all the way to Columbus, Ohio Sunday morning – the same time period as the image above.

BAMS 15 km model output projecting precipitation Sunday morning

With that much of a variation on the models, with many days before a possible event, it’s best to use ensemble models and the National Blend of models which is reflected in our “Snow Ideas” map below.

First thoughts on possible snow on Sunday.

Things we know:

  • Thursday will be very windy with gusts to 50 mph
  • Thursday will be warm with highs near 70 degrees
  • Friday and Saturday won’t be windy and will be cooler
  • Even if it does snow Sunday morning, the highs will be well above freezing so many will have low impact weather

Things we don’t know:

  • The exact placement of rain vs. snow on Saturday night and Sunday morning
  • How much snow we might get on Sunday
  • Where the maximum amount of snow would be if this system forms as shown on models

So stay tuned because the list of things we don’t know will shrink with each passing day and we will keep you ahead of the storm here and on the StormTracker 13 app. The app is free and you can get it for free by clicking on the link directly below.