FRANKLIN
The National Weather Service is predicting mostly rain this weekend for the Western Tidewater area with some snow or sleet mixed in.

According to John McGee, a meteorologist with the NWS’s Wakefield station, rain will be the primary weather feature for the city of Franklin, Isle of Wight County and most of Southampton County, and any snow is not expected to accumulate or stick.

A majority of any snow that falls will likely be more toward the Emporia, Wakefield and Petersburg areas.

Temperatures were expected to be in the mid-30s overnight Friday with a high of 37 or 38 degrees on Saturday. Saturday evening going into Sunday, temperatures are expected to drop to around 27 or 28 degrees, but by that time most of the anticipated precipitation will be over. For Sunday, the NWS is predicting highs of 40 to 41 degrees.

The NWS has still issued a hazardous weather outlook for the area this weekend, sending out their alert at 3:49 p.m. on Friday. Places that experience mostly snowfall on Friday as opposed to rain may see an inch or two of wet snow by Saturday morning, according to the alert, with up to another inch possible by the end of the day Saturday. In addition to Isle of Wight County, Southampton County and the city of Franklin, the alert also applies to Northampton, Hertford and Bertie counties in North Carolina.