Dec. 7 (UPI) — A winter storm is forecast to bring snow, sleet and freezing rain over the Southern Plains and Texas beginning Friday before spreading through the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.
The National Weather Service issued winter storm watches from eastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle eastward to Oklahoma, southern Missouri and northern Arkansas.
After bringing snow and rain to Southern California and the southern Rockies on Thursday, the heaviest amounts of snow and ice are set to be unleashed from the Southern Plains into the Southeast, the Weather Channel reported.
Primary precipitation is set to begin early Friday with freezing rain and drizzle in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. Ice accumulations could reach one-quarter to one-half inch in Texas and Oklahoma respectively, possibly causing damage to power lines and trees.
Later Friday, widespread snow is expected to develop from eastern New Mexico into the Texas Panhandle, northwestern Oklahoma and southern Kansas, while snow, sleet and freezing rain could spread to southern Missouri and northern Arkansas at night.
Parts of Arkansas, including Fayetteville and Bentonville could see between 3 inches and 4 inches of snow with a possibility of 6 inches to 8 inches of snow at higher elevations of the Ozark Mountains as precipitation continues into Saturday.
Saturday will also bring snow and ice to parts of the Ohio Valley, the southern Appalachians and the Piedmont region.
Effects of the storm are expected to stretch to upstate South Carolina, western North Carolina, southern Virginia, southern West Virginia, eastern Tennessee and northern Georgia on Sunday.
The storm is expected to last through Monday, possibl bringing record snowfall to North Carolina.
“This could be a once-in-a-generation event for areas that experience mostly snow and ice,” the National Weather Service in Greenville, S.C., said.
Blizzard conditions in the higher elevations of the Appalachians are also possible for Sunday.
