The National Weather Service is predicting some snow for the area Tuesday and Wednesday.

How much?

Ah, that’s the question.

The latest estimate from the NWS pros predicts 1-2 inches.

Roanoke Times weather geek Kevin Myatt, who’s record of accuracy beats the pros, thinks it will be more like 2-4 inches.

The Farmer’s Almanac, which accurately nailed the last two big storms to hit the area, says Tuesday and Wednesday could bring us another “big one.”

And Myatt, in his Saturday blog posting, is hedging his bets:

I’m giving it another 24 hours before jumping in with a solid guess, though I would say I’m leaning to a 2-4-inch type snow. I’ve seen too many systems angle north and west late in the game this winter, and I’m not sure yet if the modeling is handling the Northeast low correctly. I think a foot-plus type snow is doubtful at this point, and even a 6-12 inch snow will take quite a bit to come together that appears to have a lot of resistance to overcome.

In other words, anything can happen and when that decision has been left up to Mother Nature in this winter of extremes it often means what will happen is not good.

Temperatures today are expected to climb a little above freezing — about 38 degrees with highs in the 40s on Monday before dripping down around the freezing point for midweek.

By Saturday and Sunday we could be seeing temps climbing into the high 40s and possibly 50s but that could change.

Looks like it will be mid-month before the overnight lows stay above freezing.

Call it the winter without end.

Call it the winter of our discontent.

Or just call it what is is: A pain in the ass.

Related articles

• Outlook: More cold, more snow (blueridgemuse.com)
• Not what we wanted to hear (blueridgemuse.com)