Major Winter Storm hits Friday Night/Early Saturday...but what type?

Shelby and highway 74 is literally right on the line of all 3 winter precip types. Snow, sleet and Freezing rain. You can rule out rain, other than a token drop at the start, due to evaporational cooling and incoming cold damming.  I think Freezing rain is also very unlikely for the highway 74 region, as we'd need only a shallow layer of subfreezing air to get that, and all models have a thick layer of subfreezing air. Up next, snow or sleet?
How about both? Its really still too early to say for sure, but as of Wednesday night, I like the idea of mostly snow north of highway 74, running from Forest City to Shelby to Gastonia to Charlotte...a straight line, which is different most of our winter storms that bisect the county on a southwest to northeast line.

Snow begins in Asheville and Hendersonville by afternoon and spreads east toward most of western NC by afternoon or early evening. The snow gets really heavy quickly in the mountains, esp. the smokies, where its possible that area gets more than the northern mountains around Boone, because theres more moisture toward the south.

The snow spreads solidly across interstate 40 toward Hickory and Greensboro and all points east, straight to the northern coast of NC by evening.
Meanwhile for those of us in Shelby , Gastonia, Gaffney to Charlotte region, its a really tight line and could swing either way right now.  We could get a 12" snow in Shelby, or it could be 1" of sleet or some combination of the two. Literally 1/2 of one degree in the 4000 foot layer of the atmosphere will be the deciding factor, and the models just can pinpoint which neighborhood is the dividing line. So I have to give you a rough idea. Generally, the further north of highway 74 you are, the more likely you are to remain all snow. But at this stage, its possible that a major snowstorm encompasses everyone from Spartanburg and all points north of Interstate 85.

The freezing rain and major ice accumulations look likely further south toward the Upstate of SC and northeast Georgia where its slightly too warm aloft to snow,but the surface temps are in the upper 20's.

I'll have another update early Thursday. Winter Storm Watches could be posted soon for the counties not yet under one. Stay tuned!