A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for West MS. The only county in the WTVA viewing area under this advisory is Grenada county.
This is not a slamdunk winter weather event. In fact, there are more things wrong with this set up than right. The reason this advisory has been issued is because of the potential for some very light freezing rain. The main problem? Cold air and moisture are out of sync with this setup, and it is possible that were it is cold enough to support freezing rain, there might not be any rain/moisture.
Very cold air, in the low 20s in south west Missouri, is flowing in from the Northwest. The temperature at or near the surface will be below freezing tomorrow morning into the early afternoon. There will be a dividing line between cold and coldest air. That dividing line in all likelihood will be the Natchez Trace Parkway. The coldest temperatures, the ones that will be below freezing even in the afternoon, will be to the NW of the Parkway. The main forecast question? How much moisture will fall in this zone of below freezing temperatures. We expect the amounts to be very light. Even a tenth of an inch of freezing rainfall or drizzle could cause some travel disruptions for the mid-morning Monday through Monday Evening/Night. It's possible that some elevated roadways could see some light icing in West/NW Mississippi, but there might not be much moisture to work with, and surface roads should generally be in good shape in East Mississippi. The morning commute should wet, but not icy (at least at this time it looks like that).
Right now, we expect that most of the moisture that falls will be just rainfall. Temperatures will be above freezing just a little bit above the surface, so it's unlikely that we will see snow or sleet. We will have more updates tonight at 9pm on WLOV Fox News and 10pm on WTVA.
