Parts of the South have two chances of snow soon
We’re heading into the peak of winter, and a series of disturbances look poised to produce strips of snow as they trek across the country, including in parts of the South. Winter storm warnings were posted for northern Arkansas on Wednesday, heralding the arrival of a plowable snow for parts of the Ozarks.
That lead system was expected to bring snow to portions of Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia on Friday as well, accumulating in some spots while amounting to mere festive flakes in others.
Meteorologists were also tracking an additional chance of snow that could materialize early next week as far south as Texas and
Louisiana, though confidence is extremely low in the highly uncertain scenario.
The first system to watch was rolling across the Plains states early Wednesday, a cold front stretching from near Dallas to Oklahoma City to east central Kansas. The slow-moving boundary accompanied a pocket of upper-level cold air and spin that will enhance rising motion along its leading edge.
That had left a band of showers and embedded thunderstorms riding north from eastern Texas and western Louisiana into parts of eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas; light precipitation extended north through Kansas City, ending as a brief burst of snow in southeastern Nebraska.
As low pressure intensifies Wednesday evening,
much of arriving moisture may fall as snow in the Ozark Plateau of northern Arkansas, the heaviest coming down Wednesday evening through midmorning today. The National
Weather Service has hoisted winter storm warnings for the higher elevations of northwestern Arkansas, where up to half a foot may fall above 2,000 feet north of Interstate 40.
A soaking rain is expected farther south across eastern Texas, Louisiana and southern Arkansas, including in Shreveport
Meanwhile, a couple strong to severe thunderstorms with a tornado risk are possible from the greater Houston area east into the Golden Triangle, including the cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Lake Charles. That’s where the tail end of the cold front may kick up a few rotating thunderstorms.
Today, the low pressure system will swing through Mississippi and Alabama, bringing some gusty downpours. Moisture wrapping around into the cold air north of the system will fall as snow though, affecting Nashville on tonight and early Friday.
While accumulation isn’t expected in Music City, portions of middle and eastern Tennessee could wind up with a dusting to 2 inches, the greatest totals expected east. An inch or two is likely in Chattanooga.
A dusting is also possible into Friday morning across the Appalachian foothills of northern Georgia, where overnight temperatures in the 30s will support frozen precipitation before temperatures warm during the daylight hours Friday. There’s a nonzero chance a few flakes could fly in the northern suburbs of Atlanta.
A moderate to heavy snowfall is looking increasingly likely during the daylight hours Friday along the Tennessee-north Carolina border and east into the higher terrain of the Piedmont, with several inches possible.