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Winter Storm Watch Issued For Some Counties Ahead Of Friday's Snow

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The snow that fell Wednesday evening coated our area in white and caused gridlock during the evening rush hour, but it might just be a precursor of what could be a very interesting weekend.

A nor'easter could hit the mid-Atlantic region with heavy snow. But forecasters are still trying to sort out just how much we'll see here, depending on what course the storm takes.

In the meantime, snow showers fell around the region into the early evening hours.

"It's a limited window of opportunity in which we will see this particular round of light snow showers between now and about 7 or 8 o'clock this evening in most neighborhoods; in the process, a coating to maybe a half an inch of snow in any given spot," KDKA Chief Meteorologist Jeff Verszyla said.

And now that that's over, we'll clear out until Friday.

"We'll see clouds lingering overnight tonight," Verszyla said. "We should see a decent day [Thursday] with some sunshine breaking through the cloud deck and temperatures climbing into the mid- and upper-20s."

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The National Weather Service has already issued a Winter Storm Watch for parts of the area starting Friday afternoon and into Saturday night.

The counties included right now are: Fayette, Greene, Somerset and Westmoreland. Areas in West Virginia and Maryland are also under the watch.

The snow is expected to move back in sometime later on Friday.

"First half of Friday, no problems whatsoever, mostly cloudy skies," Verszyla said. "As we get towards early afternoon, a few flakes may start flying in West Virginia, and that's slowly going to expand further north. I don't expect much to occur in the city of Pittsburgh until we probably get toward 5 o'clock or so is when a few flurries may start flying, and then we'll evolve into some steadier snow showers Friday night, and everything will then pivot further east into the day on Saturday."

Verszyla says the further south you go, the more snow there will be.

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(Photo Credit: KDKA)

"In terms of accumulation over a 24-hour time frame from 5 to 5 Saturday… 1 to 3 inches as you get north of the city," he said. "City of Pittsburgh [is] right on that 3 inch line and then higher totals as you head south."

He says areas in Washington and Westmoreland counties could see from 3 to 5 inches; and then journeying even further south, areas in Fayette County as well as West Virginia will see from 6 to 10 inches.

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