Another Southeast Snowstorm On the Way....

All models agree, and even though its too early for amounts, there are going to be some big totals somewhere in the white band I have drawn. Its unusual to have this much model agreement so far out, but it does fit the pattern of this blocking pattern. There's been strong blocking in Canada and now we have it in Alaska, and last week at this time when I was seeing it show up, I knew from past experience that when it occurs, usually we have something happen in the Southeast.
By Sunday morning a strong upper low is going to get booted slowly east and form a low in the western Gulf of Mexico. This will spread moisture into Eastern Texas and the southern half of Arkansas quickly. There will be a high pressure to our north and west, ensuring deep cold air on northeast winds, so our temperatures aren't going anywhere once the precipitation begins, even for areas well South, this is a little unusual to be so cold, so far south. In fact, North Carolina is going to be frigid all weekend, beginning Friday afternoon (don't be surprised at flurries even in Shelby on Friday afternoon or night). This deep, arctic air will be fully entrenched well down to the I-20 corridor in Georgia and Alabama all the way across northern Louisiana, as the moisture really begins to explode and expand eastward later Sunday.
By Sunday night, snow should be falling heavily in places like Tupelo, Little Rock, Birmingham and Huntsville and closing in on Atlanta by dark.  Its hard to say how far north into Tennessee this gets , but it looks like the southern 2/3 will get some snow, roughly south of I-40 for the heaviest amounts.
The snow may arrive in western SC and western NC after midnight Sunday night, but at this time range, its hard to pinpoint the hour , it may arrive earlier or even wait until Monday morning, but its coming.

By Monday morning Atlanta and points north around Athens to Asheville should be in the throws of an unusually strong Winter Storm, and the southern sections for Atlanta for example may warm aloft just enough to switch the snow to sleet or freezing rain. Its hard to draw the ice lines now, but some sections very near I-20 are going to get a wallop of sleet and ice, and some areas will go through all 3 phases of precip, snow to ice to liquid. Its a messy setup for those areas, but further north around the Upstate of SC to most all of NC, the snow will rule, not ice.  We'll talk accumulations later on.