CHAPEL HILL – Old Man Winter is hanging on for at least a couple more days in the Triangle, with snow returning to the forecast for Wednesday—but National Weather Service meteorologist Barrett Smith says there won’t be much accumulation in our area, and the weather will turn much nicer from there.

“We’re going to see a low-pressure system moving across NC (Tuesday) evening and overnight,” he says. “We’ll see some rain overnight Tuesday night…(but then) we expect another band of precipitation to develop Wednesday during the day.”

That band could include some snow, with high temperatures on Wednesday topping out only around 40 degrees–but Smith says the latest projections show most of the snow staying north of the Triangle, with central Virginia getting hit hardest.

“Right now it looks like the best potential (for snow accumulation in North Carolina) is northeast of the Triangle,” Smith says–and even there, he says the total snowfall shouldn’t be more than half an inch. “We’re going to see some snow falling, (but) we’re not expecting any to accumulate here in the Triangle.”

Temperatures in Orange County should stay above freezing for most of Wednesday, keeping any potential snowfall to a minimum.

Wednesday’s weather still won’t be great, with rain all day and wind gusts up to 35-40 miles an hour. The forecast beyond that is much better, though, with mostly sunny skies through the weekend and temperatures rapidly warming into the low 60s by Sunday.

A warming trend is on the horizon,” Smith says. “We’ve just got to get past these next couple of days.”

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