623
FXUS62 KGSP 021709
AFDGSP

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Greenville-Spartanburg SC
1209 PM EST Mon Feb 2 2026

.WHAT HAS CHANGED...
Low to moderate confidence in the potential for very light snow to
occur across portions of the foothills and Piedmont Wednesday
evening into early Thursday morning.

&&

.KEY MESSAGES...
1. Warmer temperatures return allowing for decent melting of
lingering snowpack. Dry conditions continue through Tuesday for
most areas, although rain chances will increase across the North
Carolina mountains starting late Tuesday afternoon.
2. A front crosses the area Tuesday night through Wednesday
bringing precipitation back to the area with light snow possible
Wednesday night.
3. A brief round of mountain snow is possible Friday night,
otherwise temperatures return to seasonal averages through the
weekend.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Key message 1: Warmer temperatures return allowing for decent
melting of lingering snowpack. Dry conditions continue through
Tuesday for most areas, although rain chances will increase across
the North Carolina mountains starting late Tuesday afternoon.

Most locations will see temperatures rise above freezing this
afternoon, but some of the higher elevations in North Carolina
mountains will remain below freezing through Tuesday morning before
finally rising above freezing early Tuesday afternoon. Highs this
afternoon will climb into the mid 30s to mid 40s across the lower
elevations, with the higher elevations only reaching into the upper
20s to lower 30s. Highs on Tuesday will be even warmer ranging from
the mid 40s to lower 50s across the lower elevations and the mid 30s
to lower 40s across the higher elevations. Visible satellite loops
this afternoon show lingering snowpack across much of the forecast
area but warmer temperatures will allow for decent melting each day.
Per usual, shaded areas will take longer to melt despite warmer
temperatures.

Any moisture that is left behind from melting snow on roadways,
sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, bridges, and overpasses will
quickly refreeze after sunset as temperatures will once again fall
below freezing this evening into tonight. Thus, patchy black ice
will be a concern again tonight into mid-morning Tuesday, especially
on bridges and overpasses as well as untreated roadways. Will hold
off on the issuance of a Special Weather Statement for patchy black
ice for now as this will be highly dependent on how much snow melts
prior to sunset. Lows tonight will not be as cold as last night, but
will still be cold, ranging from the upper teens to mid 20s.

Dry conditions linger across most locations through Tuesday thanks
to surface high pressure, but precipitation chances will increase
across the North Carolina mountains ahead of an approaching front.
For now it appears that areas along the NC/TN border will have the
best chance to see precipitation develop late Tuesday afternoon into
early Tuesday evening. Temperatures will be warm enough for mostly
rain, but some of the higher elevations will see temperatures drop
near to below freezing allowing for a rain/snow mix or even a full
transition to snow at the highest peaks. Snow accumulations will
remain light through 00Z Wednesday.


Key message 2: A front crosses the area Tuesday night through
Wednesday bringing precipitation back to the area with light snow
possible Wednesday night.

By tomorrow night, a tall ridge will extend up the West Coast with a
piece of Pacific energy diving down the eastern flank into the Great
Plains. Ahead of this feature, a broad swath of westerlies is
forecast to extend from the Deep South into the Carolinas in the
base of a mean trough. With time, this flow will shift to out of the
southwest as the upstream trough digs over the Southern Plains. At
the surface, a cold front will be progressing from the Mississippi
Valley towards the Appalachians in advance of a 1035mb high spilling
into the Plains. At least some precipitation will likely be ongoing
across the mountains at the start of tomorrow night with this
activity spreading east through the overnight into Wednesday
morning. Guidance continues to depict profiles that are too warm for
wintry weather east of the mountains with the greatest chance for
snow to be across the highest elevations of the mountains, generally
above 4000ft. The upper trough remains positively tilted with only
modest forcing, which throws some question as to how much
precipitation makes it east of the mountains. At least isolated to
widely scattered showers seem likely, but coverage and amounts of
rainfall appear rather limited.

Heading through the day Wednesday, the latest suite of models
continues to depict a surface low developing along the advancing
cold front within an inverted surface trough extending from the
coast up I-26. The surface low then slides east roughly along the I-
20 corridor through the evening and into early Thursday morning. In
response, light QPF blossoms across portions of the North Carolina
foothills and Piedmont along a weak band of mid-level frontogenesis.
How far south any QPF makes it into the Upstate remains uncertain.
At the same time, cold air will be arriving behind the boundary and
could allow some of this moisture to fall as light snow. If this
were to occur, accumulations would be minimal and generally less
than 1". Forecast confidence remains low to moderate right now
pending better model agreement and amount of moisture and cold air
to work with.


Key message 3: A brief round of mountain snow is possible Friday
night, otherwise temperatures return to seasonal averages through
the weekend.

The next feature of interest will be a strong clipper dropping out
of the Great Lakes region Friday into Saturday morning. There`s an
impressive slug of moisture with this system, moreso than we would
typically see with a clipper. Most of the precipitation will remain
well to our north, but a period of northwest flow snow showers will
be possible across the mountains along the immediate Tennessee
border Friday night. Will need to watch model trends and see how far
south sufficient moisture can make it as to the magnitude of
snowfall, if any, that may occur. Otherwise, temperatures finally
return to or just shy of seasonal averages for early February.

&&

.AVIATION /18Z MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/...
At KCLT and elsewhere: Dry and VFR with light winds through the 18Z
TAF period. Wind direction will remain NW at KAVL through Tuesday
morning before turning S/SE Tuesday afternoon. Winds east of the
mountains will generally S/SW through Tuesday but will go light and
VRB to calm at times, especially this evening into early Tuesday
morning. Cirrus will gradually become BKN to OVC from west to east
overnight into Tuesday morning.

Outlook: A cold front brings precipitation and restrictions back
Tuesday night into Wednesday night. Dry conditions return Thursday
into the weekend for most of the terminals, outside of some
northwest flow snow along the NC/TN border Friday night into early
Saturday morning. Gusty winds develop Friday in association with a
cold front and will linger across the mountains through Saturday,
but will gradually taper off east of the mountains Friday evening.

&&

.CLIMATE...
RECORDS FOR 02-02

               MAX TEMPERATURE         MIN TEMPERATURE
  STATION      HIGH        LOW         HIGH        LOW
  -------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
   KAVL      76 1989     16 1908     52 1988     -2 1917
   KCLT      80 1989     29 1908     61 1923     10 1917
   KGSP      77 1989     28 1951     60 1923      9 1900

&&

.GSP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
GA...None.
NC...None.
SC...None.

&&

$$

AR/TW