Rain? Snow? Weather service says we’ll have to wait and see
A storm system that brought snow to the Gulf of Mexico and south Texas is plowing toward the Carolinas and will leave the Rock Hill area close to the rain-snow line late Friday and early Saturday.
Forecasters say rain is likely to change to snow before the storm system moves away Saturday morning, but they still believe accumulations will be negligible in the Rock Hill area.
However, National Weather Service meteorologist Pat Moore said the forecast is tricky.
“Uncertainty was the greatest there,” Moore said of the Charlotte-Rock Hill area. “So the consensus was to wait and see how the situation unfolds.”
Meanwhile, a winter storm warning is posted for the North Carolina mountains, where about four inches of snow is expected. And winter weather advisories for one to two inches are in effect for a wide swath of northwestern South Carolina, the North Carolina foothills and Piedmont north of Charlotte.
The winter warnings and advisories actually stretch from Louisiana up to New England.
The storm system brought snow Thursday night to south Texas, with accumulations in places like Corpus Christi, along the Gulf of Mexico, and in San Antonio and Houston. The National Weather Service in Birmingham reported heavy snow falling Friday morning and said it was the first pre-Christmas snow there in 20 years.
Snow also is expected in Atlanta, where an inch or two could accumulate.
In the Rock Hill area, temperatures were in the lower 40s at daybreak Friday. Rain is expected to continue throughout the day, with temperatures likely falling a bit into the upper 30s.
By the early-morning hours Saturday, rain is expected to mix with snow at times in the Rock Hill area. But with paved surfaces still warm from recent mild days, and with overnight temperatures only falling to freezing, roads are expected to remain only wet. Some snow could accumulate on grassy surfaces, depending on the freezing level in the atmosphere.
Moore said computer guidance is mixed on whether freezing levels will drop to near the surface – a development necessary for snow to fall.
The precipitation, which originally was expected to end Friday evening, is now forecast to continue until the late-morning hours Saturday. It will be a raw day, with damp conditions and highs only reaching the low 40s.
Sunshine is expected to return Sunday, but it will be cold, with highs only in the low to mid 40s. Slightly milder temperatures are expected Monday and Tuesday, with highs around 50, but another surge of arctic air will arrive for Wednesday, with highs only reaching 40 degrees.
Milder readings are expected by late next week.
This story was originally published December 8, 2017 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Rain? Snow? Weather service says we’ll have to wait and see."