Parts of South could be knee-deep in snow this weekend
Southern states prepare for snowy weather 01:15
Story highlights
- Snow is forecast for much of the Southeast late Friday and early Saturday
- National Weather Service has issued winter storm watches for Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas
Atlanta (CNN)Nervous residents have flocked to grocery stores in anticipation of snow in the South this weekend.
A
winter storm is expected to sweep through the Southeastern United
States late Friday and early Saturday, bringing a potential mix of snow,
sleet and ice.
Raleigh,
North Carolina, is likely to face the brunt of the storm, with 4 to 10
inches of snow predicted. Charlotte is looking at some 3-4 inches of
snow, and CNN's meteorologists believe at least an inch of snow is
likely to fall in Metro Atlanta, with potential for up to 4 inches.
The National Weather Service has issued winter storm watches for Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas -- including such metropolitan areas as Atlanta, Birmingham, Alabama; and Greenville, South Carolina.
A
winter storm watch means there is potential for significant snow, sleet
or ice accumulations that may impact travel. Lighter accumulations of
snow are forecast for portions of Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia.
"The heaviest snowfall will be expected to fall from the southern Appalachians to southeastern Virginia," said the National Weather Service, adding that "most precipitation will begin to taper off by Saturday evening."
Many
schools and universities weren't taking any chances. Atlanta students
will go home two hours early Friday and Georgia Tech will close at noon.
The University of Alabama is suspending operations for the day.
As customary, residents in
warning areas flocked to grocery stories to load up on bread, milk and
more. Alex Preston of Atlanta wrote with his photo of long lines:
"Because of a snow flurry ... really?"
Weather and traffic resources
These
federal government resources have maps you can use to check weather
conditions, flight delays, traffic and road closures in your area:
Weather
www.weather.gov
Flight delays
www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp
Traffic and road closures
www.fhwa.dot.gov/trafficinfo
Weather
www.weather.gov
Flight delays
www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp
Traffic and road closures
www.fhwa.dot.gov/trafficinfo
While
hardy folks from the North often scoff at Southerners for the clearing
of store shelves, we might be able to thank a particular region for at
least some of it, according to AccuWeather.com.
"It appears that New Englanders can take credit for the purchasing of milk and bread prior to the storm," the site reported last year.
"It was the monumental blizzard in 1978 that trapped many in homes for
weeks that gets at least some credit for the current tradition."
Most of the salad had been tossed into grocery carts by Thursday evening in Smyrna, Georgia.
Amid the run on goods, forecasters are telling people to take warnings and watches seriously.
Major
airlines issued advisories about potential impact. Flightaware, which
tracks cancellations, on Thursday evening did not show a large number of
those for Friday and Saturday, but those numbers could quickly change.
Snowstorms
in the South are notoriously difficult to forecast, as timing or a
change of 1 or 2 degrees can be the difference between several inches of
snow or just a cold rain. National Weather Service meteorologists
called the forecast "tricky" in their discussion of the storm Wednesday.
There is still some uncertainty,
as a few forecasting models show precipitation arriving before the
temperatures cool down enough to create snow. As the storm develops out
of the Gulf of Mexico there is chance that a narrow band of forecasted
higher snow totals could widen, producing heavier snow across a broader
area.
And
depending on where the snow/rain line falls, some areas could see a
mixture of rain and snow in the beginning, which would keep snow totals
down. This is especially likely in places like Birmingham, where the
storm will begin earlier on Friday -- most likely as a wintry mix of
snow and sleet.
There is a chance the air will remain just warm enough in places farther south that the precipitation will just fall as sleet.
The
best news about this storm is that it will happen on the weekend, which
should prevent another "snow jam" scenario like the one that paralyzed
Atlanta in January 2014.
During
that storm tens of thousands of weekday commuters left work around the
same time, creating massive gridlock on roads and highways and stranding
vehicles for hours.
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