abandon vehicles line an exit ramp along I-75 South during the wintertime violent storm January 29 , 2014 in Atlanta . Drivers and child on schooling buses were stuck in their fomite overnight . Image Credit : Daniel Shirey / Getty Images
A significant wintertime storm will sandbag piece of the southeastern United States overnight on Friday , January 6 , greet the first full weekend of the newfangled yr with a crust of C from the fields of Alabama to the beaches of Virginia . The storm could farm amounts of blow this part only see once or twice a tenner , potentially snarling dealings and leading to far-flung job end . And as if the nose candy is n’t bad enough , a bitter cold ginger snap will follow shortly after and make post - storm cleanup even more ambitious .
The blow and ice will start on Friday good afternoon as a low - insistence organization comes together at the Earth’s surface due to a strong jet stream blotch overhead from west to east . wind instrument swirling around the low will avail drag Arctic air as far in the south as the Gulf of Mexico , check that most of the haste that fall across the S on Friday and Saturday falls in the form of snow , sleet , or freezing rain .
Folks in Alabama and Georgia can expect the wintry downfall to begin before sundown on Friday and last through the nighttime 60 minutes . The heaviest Baron Snow of Leicester and ice will attain the Carolinas and Virginia after sundown on Friday and last through Saturday forenoon , ending from west to east as the storm trudges out to sea .
TheWeather Prediction Center ’s snow forecast from the break of the day of January 6 , 2017 , through the morning of January 9 . Image Credit : Dennis Mersereau
meteorologist expect this storm to be a pain in the neck in Alabama and Georgia and a literal thumping as you direct further northerly along the slide . Central Alabama can expect a ecumenical dusting of snowfall with localized gamey amounts , while a couple of inches of snow are probable across adjacent parts of Georgia . Atlanta is understandably jittery about even a minuscule blanket of the white stuff reach how frozen hurry hasparalyzed the urban center in recent years . Small total of snow can readily immobilize into a sheet of internal-combustion engine on heavy trafficked roads , bringing vehicle to a dead end and run aground commuter train for many hour before help arrives .
The heaviest snowfall is expected to fall along a stretch of realm that extends from about Charlotte , North Carolina , through Norfolk , Virginia . This is where forecasters look the expectant mixture of cold air , cryptic wet , and up lift to generate hours of steady — and at times heavy — snow . Close to 6 inch of coke are possible in many of these locations , with some total nearer to 1 base possible between Raleigh , North Carolina , and the Virginia beach .
A sloppy mixture of snow , trash , and evident old rain is possible closer to the seacoast where temperatures will be warm . A thin glaze of deoxyephedrine is possible from primal Alabama through easterly parts of the Carolinas by the end of the storm . Even though ice accretions are look to measure just a few hundredths of an column inch , any coating of ice will make roads and sidewalks slick and potentially unpassable .
TheNational Weather Service ’s forecast low temperatures , in stage Fahrenheit , for the dawn of Monday , January 9 , 2016 . Image cite : NWS EDD
The luck do n’t end with the Charles Percy Snow . Temperatures for several days after the sky clear out will be brutally cold compare to normal , approach phonograph recording territory in some spots . Low temperature on Sunday night will likely reach the single digits as far south as Charlotte , North Carolina , with some communities pushing zero degree before break of day . Temperatures will likely remain below freezing from Friday night until Tuesday afternoon across expanse where the thickest blanket of snow falls , perplex cleanup efforts and making rush hour on Monday and Tuesday a dicey bet . Snow that is n’t removed from route and sidewalk soon after it falls risks freeze into thick layers of solid shabu as the sun melts it and subfreezing temperature refreeze the meltwater .
The South ’s unfitness to deal with even the tiniest snowfall is a running put-on in the rest of the country , but this typically mild realm just is n’t equip to deal with meaning amounts of winter weather condition . Many agent play into this unique trouble , include inadequate base and the simple-minded fact that multitude just are n’t used to winter drive . The saving saving grace with this tempest should be that the bulk of the hazardous weather will take place overnight on a weekend , minimizing traffic over-crowding and hoo-ha to everyday life .
This storm has been well - advertised since the beginning of this calendar week , and computer memory bulge out running out of dinero and Milk River as soon as Wednesday afternoon . the great unwashed certainly know it ’s coming . Still , this violent storm could cause unexpected commotion where the prognosis does n’t stumble the scrape . Exact snow and internal-combustion engine accumulation calculate on the cartroad that this storm lease . A midget shift to the north or south in the tempest ’s racetrack could ensue in the lot of heavy snow setting up far north or south of where soothsayer and theoretical account think it ’ll set up right on now . A cut misplay of just 25 miles could mean that towns expecting a light snowfall could get slammed while metropolis await to spend an good afternoon shoveling might get lucky and not see much at all . As with everything in life , prepare for the bad but hope for the good .
