ROANOKE, Va. – The next 36 hours feature a lot of changes in our weather, starting with rain and mild air through Tuesday afternoon.

As our cold front passes through, it will trigger an area of heavier rain moving west to east by midday. Anything in the afternoon and evening will generally be light.

Late Tuesday night, snow begins in the mountains with perhaps a period of freezing rain in the southern Blue Ridge (Carroll, Grayson, Wythe Counties).

Colder air continues to move into the region, meaning that snow will develop mainly in areas west of the Parkway early Wednesday morning. As drier air moves in, this batch of snow rushes east Wednesday morning. No accumulation is expected around Lynchburg or Southside.

Most any accumulation will be light and in areas near and to the west of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Areas in white (NRV, Highlands and Southern Shenandoah) could see anywhere from a dusting up to an inch of snow. Most of that will be on the grass too, with slightly higher accumulations in the mountains, where the air gets colder quicker.

Main roads will mostly be wet Wednesday morning, but some side roads (especially in higher elevations) could be snow-covered. Some school delays will be possible. Sunshine returns for the day Wednesday, leading to some snow melt.

The system that’s potentially more concerning for us is the one that arrives Friday. If moisture moves into the colder air at ground level Friday morning, we’ll start with a period of freezing rain before changing to all rain later in the day. This may lead to a tough morning commute Friday morning.

We’re still ironing out the details on that system, and will have those for you in the coming days.