South braces for weekend threat of debilitating snow, ice

ATLANTA — Weather forecasters’ predictions of debilitating snow and ice as far south as Georgia sent parts of the region into a tizzy Friday with shoppers scouring store shelves for storm supplies and road crews trying to prevent a repeat of past wintertime debacles.

In Virginia, where a blizzard left thousands of motorists trapped on clogged highways this month, Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency and urged people to take the approaching storm seriously. Some store shelves were stripped bare of essentials including bread and milk in North Carolina.

Trucks prepared to spray a briny mixture on roads to prevent icing across the region, and Travis Wagler said he hadn’t seen such a run on supplies at his Abbeville, S.C., hardware store in at least two winters.

“We’re selling everything you might expect: sleds, but also salt, shovels and firewood,” Wagler said from Abbeville Hardware. There, forecasters predict a quarter-inch of ice or more on trees and power lines, which could lead to days without electricity.

“People are worried,” Wagler said.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an emergency order saying the state would likely feel the effects of the major winter storm starting Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service said from 2 inches to 5 inches of snow could fall as far south as northeast Georgia from Saturday evening though Sunday, and power outages and travel problems will be made all the worse by an additional coating of ice and winds gusting to 35 mph.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said the state was preparing “to the max” for the blast.

“Hopefully, the storm will underdeliver, but it could overdeliver. We just don’t know,” he said.

Parts of Tennessee could get as much as 6 inches of snow, forecasters said, and northern Mississippi and the Tennessee Valley region of Alabama could receive light snow accumulations.

On Friday, the fast-moving storm dropped heavy snow across a large swath of the Midwest. After dipping into the Southeast, it was expected to drop snow, sleet and rain around the Eastern Seaboard.

A winter storm watch extended from just north of metro Atlanta to Arkansas in the west and Pennsylvania in the north, covering parts of 10 states.

Bryon Houlgrave / Associated Press Joe Strand cleans the windshield wipers of his van in a hotel parking lot in Altoona, Iowa, as snow falls around him Friday.