# First mountain snow possible in West Virginia Friday night into Saturday Published November 9, 2026, 3:16 PM ET By Ryan Hall, Y'all Written by our automated news desk from Ryan's video. A storm forming near the Mid-Atlantic brings cold rain Thursday, then wet snow to the high ground of West Virginia and the northern Appalachians Friday night into Saturday. The bigger story for most people is a first freeze from the Ohio Valley into the Deep South, followed by a warm-up. Ryan also covered a fast Pacific jet stream and an early polar vortex flip that looks short and weak. ## Key points - Ryan points out that a chunk of energy dives through the Great Lakes Wednesday night and swings through the Ohio Valley Thursday. Thursday is "mostly going to be a cold rain" from Kentucky and Tennessee up through Pennsylvania and into New York. - He says the storm cranks up along the New England coast early Friday and the rain turns to snow in the mountains. The best shot is the high ground of West Virginia Friday night into Saturday, with the Adirondacks and northern New England in on it too. Lake-effect rain and snow showers kick up behind it. - For the big cities, Ryan says this is not a snowstorm. He calls the cold air the real story: Nashville is near 70 on Wednesday and forecast to hit 29 by Saturday morning, a drop of more than 40 degrees. Friday night is the night to bring plants in from the Ohio Valley down into the Deep South. - He ties it all to a Pacific jet stream blowing over 200 mph, forecast near 250 by tomorrow morning. It sends rounds of rain at the Pacific Northwest, with an atmospheric river aimed at western Washington Friday into Saturday. The Olympic Mountains could pick up about a foot of rain over seven days, and Seattle and Olympia could top 2 inches. Seattle may also break its record high Wednesday at 65. - Ryan says the polar vortex flip arriving this week is about two weeks earlier than anything on record back to 1959. He says it looks short and weak, and "the cold that's coming this week has absolutely nothing to do with the polar vortex." In his words, it's "just a normal November cold front." ![Thumbnail of Ryan Hall's video: This November Forecast Has A HUGE Twist...](https://public.yallsoft.app/rhy/blog/images/2026-11-09-news-video-R5jnz4mVc0A-2012.png) Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5jnz4mVc0A Ryan's newest video says a storm forming near the Mid-Atlantic will bring cold rain Thursday, then some of the season's first snow to the high ground of West Virginia and other Appalachian peaks Friday night into Saturday. For most people the bigger deal is the cold air behind it, with a first freeze from the Ohio Valley into the Deep South before warmth builds back. ## What Ryan covered - Ryan points out that a chunk of energy dives through the Great Lakes Wednesday night and swings through the Ohio Valley Thursday. Thursday is "mostly going to be a cold rain" from Kentucky and Tennessee up through Pennsylvania and into New York. - He says the storm cranks up along the New England coast early Friday and the rain turns to snow in the mountains. The best shot is the high ground of West Virginia Friday night into Saturday, with the Adirondacks and northern New England in on it too. Lake-effect rain and snow showers kick up behind it. - For the big cities, Ryan says this is not a snowstorm. He calls the cold air the real story: Nashville is near 70 on Wednesday and forecast to hit 29 by Saturday morning, a drop of more than 40 degrees. Friday night is the night to bring plants in from the Ohio Valley down into the Deep South. - He ties it all to a Pacific jet stream blowing over 200 mph, forecast near 250 by tomorrow morning. It sends rounds of rain at the Pacific Northwest, with an atmospheric river aimed at western Washington Friday into Saturday. The Olympic Mountains could pick up about a foot of rain over seven days, and Seattle and Olympia could top 2 inches. Seattle may also break its record high Wednesday at 65. - Ryan says the polar vortex flip arriving this week is about two weeks earlier than anything on record back to 1959. He says it looks short and weak, and "the cold that's coming this week has absolutely nothing to do with the polar vortex." In his words, it's "just a normal November cold front." ## What our winter outlook says about the Appalachians Our [winter storm outlook](/winter) agrees that wet, accumulating snow is expected on the higher terrain of West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. It then shifts northeast into upstate New York and northern New England. Amounts look light to locally moderate, mostly above 2,000 feet. Confidence is moderate on the general setup. The exact track of the storm is less certain, and that track decides the snow totals and whether valleys see rain or snow. Check the [snow forecasts](/snow) for updates before mountain travel Friday and Saturday. ## The warm-up and where December goes Ryan says the cold won't last. The Climate Prediction Center's outlook for November 16 to 22 favors warmer than normal from the Rockies to the East Coast. Odds of above-normal temperatures are 80% or more from Minnesota and Iowa to Michigan. Only the West leans cooler, because of the Pacific storms. On the polar vortex, Ryan notes the American model reverses the winds for only a couple of days, at about 10 mph. The European runs flip them back within days. The heart of the vortex moves toward Iceland and Scandinavia, so he expects any major cold to land on the other side of the world. He lays out two paths into December. In the first, the Pacific stays in charge and the country sees mild stretches with a cold shot here and there. The official long-range outlook leans that way, warmer than normal across the north through early December, with Texas and the Four Corners cooler. In the second, the disruption works down and lines up with the stormy El Nino pattern for a significant storm, though it can take up to six weeks to know. Ryan says he is leaning toward the first scenario for now. Watch the full video above for Ryan's maps, the jet stream flight data and his complete read on the polar vortex. Explained: [What a Freeze Warning means, and how it differs from a Frost Advisory](https://ryanhallyall.com/news/what-a-freeze-warning-frost-advisory-and-hard-freeze-mean) First snow tracker, every big city: https://ryanhallyall.com/trackers/first-snow More on: [First snow 2026-27](https://ryanhallyall.com/news/topic/first-snow-2026-27) Places in this story: Nashville, TN ## Sources - [Ryan Hall, Y'all video: This November Forecast Has A HUGE Twist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5jnz4mVc0A), Ryan Hall, Y'all, issued November 9, 2026, 3:12 PM ET --- Canonical: https://ryanhallyall.com/news/first-mountain-snow-possible-in-west-virginia-friday-night-into-saturday From Ryan Hall, Y'all (https://ryanhallyall.com). Always follow official warnings from the National Weather Service.