Midday Thursday Update

The storm will be getting its act together over the Gulf and take a track off the Southeast Georgia shore and then track very slowly up to the Out Banks by Saturday.
For the western part of NC, this is a classic heavy snow track. Areas in the Foothills around Hickory down to Shelby and Forest City will deal with mixing sleet , and the further south you are, the more sleet, and less snow early on. But by nightfall, temperatures aloft will cool rapidly, changing any sleet back to heavy snow and its with that band associated with the mid level spin (low) that tracks across central Georgia to central SC, anyone north and west of that track will thump over to snow around dark and remain snow for the rest of the storm.  That wall of snow will slowly spiral from northern Georgia, western NC and upper SC right along Interstate 85 and all points north toward Charlotte and eventually into eastern North Carolina by morning, laying down several inchs of powder in its wake, on top of the heavy sleet layer.

Following the ending of the storm on Saturday, a cold blast of Arctic air will settle into our area for the remaining few days leading up to Christmas, when we have yet another Gulf storm approaching. Told you this "El Nino" meant business, and now that we have some rare Upper Lattitude blocking that has locked in, it appears the southern half of the country is in for a very unusual, wild Winter Weather ride for the next few weeks. What a way to start Winter, Huh?

A rough timeline of events:

Snow, sleet and light rain starts midday Friday over Shelby/Rutherfordton. Then becomes mostly sleet midday and afternoon, with mostly snow in the upper sections of our area. Temps will fall into the lower 30's.

Friday night....Becoming windy, sleet and snow becomes mostly snow area wide, with heavy snow rates likely after dark, pushing across from west to east. Heavy accumulations likely overnight.  Temps falling into upper 20's to near 30.

Saturday...Snow tapers off, partial clearing possible late. Cold. Highs mid 30s.