Winter storm to bring snow, sleet and freezing rain to south-central US

AccuWeather

A state of emergency was declared in Texas due to the winter storm producing treacherous travel conditions. These dangerous conditions will also extend across the southern U.S. from Dallas to Atlanta.

Transcript

00:00Jeremy, right now is AccuWeather chief meteorologist John Porter. I'm sure it doesn't surprise you as

00:03your team has been working very, very hard at these snow totals. Even when Tony was talking

00:08about in Dallas, he's like, I think there's about two inches of ice and then maybe three inches of

00:12snow on top, something like that. I mean, when you hear things like that, what does it make you think

00:15of? Well, it's right. It's just been that icy mix and we stressed here at AccuWeather, ahead of all

00:20other sources, that there would be a sharp variation with higher snow totals to the north,

00:25where there have been three to six inches and the amounts of snow have tailed off as you head south

00:30through the Dallas metroplex. So that's exactly why we were providing that information, so people

00:35could be better informed and make better decisions. And as Tony was mentioning, I liked how he

00:39described about how you're driving around and all of a sudden your your wheel turns a certain way.

00:44That's what you have to be careful for across the south, because remember, people are less used to

00:48dealing with snow and ice across the south and certainly driving in it. Yeah. And Mike Scanlon,

00:53who is in, he's in Little Rock. Sorry, everyone's all over the place, but whether it's Little Rock,

00:57whether it is Atlanta, it's those folks that do not have the all-wheel drive that it's just maybe

01:02the front-wheel drive folks are getting stuck. We've made a pretty sharp update to the map here,

01:07taking that three to six a bit further, but overall things, John, are panning out pretty well.

01:12Yes, as AccuWeather had accurately forecast and we've got a big mess here across the state of

01:17Tennessee. We're just looking at some of the webcams along the various interstate 30 and 24

01:24here across Tennessee. Slow go here with heavy snow in a lot of locations and of course also

01:30in the Atlanta area where there's been two or three inches of snow and sleet on the ground

01:34this morning. That's going to continue to expand to the north and east. And Ari, as you mentioned,

01:38we have decided to bring that three to six inch area of snow from parts of Tennessee right out

01:43to the Atlantic coast. So that area from Richmond southbound, extra enhancement in this area here as

01:50we deal with some heavier snow into the first part of Saturday. Further to the north though,

01:54as we've been talking about for several days, it's a lighter snow because this storm is going

02:00more east than it is north. So it's not going to come up the coast, but light snow one to three

02:04inches and there can still be travel troubles across parts of central western Pennsylvania

02:09back into Ohio as well. Well, talk about travel troubles. We're going to get to the ice part

02:13of this now because the snow of all winter weather, probably the easiest, the least difficult

02:19to travel on, and that causes not as many problems as that thick glaze of ice. Yes, and we're going

02:25to, you're right, any ice is a major challenge as it relates to travel. We're going to be dealing

02:28with an icy mix of sleet. Those are those ice pellets that are falling from the sky and pinging

02:34off your windshield or your house. Sleet and freezing rain, which is rain freezing on colder

02:39surfaces here. So look out in that corridor here, Atlanta, Charlotte, eventually over toward Raleigh.

02:46That's where some of that ice can be a more significant problem. And in some places that

02:50freezing rain is going to be enough to weigh down trees and power lines, resulting in some power

02:54outages. For those who started their morning with some beautiful snow, are you about to give them

02:59some bad news then? Yeah, in some cases we are going to be dealing with that icy mix and that's

03:03all going to be translating to the north and east as we make our way through the rest of today.

03:08Conditions going downhill for locations like Charlotte and over toward Raleigh as we head into

03:13the evening. So watch out for the evening commute there. And then overnight in the first part of

03:17tomorrow morning, our eye is in that area in southeast Virginia. Rates of snow one to two

03:22inches per hour south and east of Richmond toward Hampton Roads and Virginia Beach. Look out.

03:27We winter cast a great tool. Not only do you get the snow, so we'll show that in Charlotte,

03:31which is about an inch or two, but we also have a product for the ice. That's correct. You can

03:36see the amount that we're expecting in your area, plus the prospects for a little bit more,

03:39a little bit less. If you're traveling or have friends or family in other areas, this is a great

03:43resource exclusively from AccuWeather. AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist John Porter, thanks so much

03:48again for joining us.

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