(Cleveland)- Some areas of the state could see two plus inches of rain through Sunday but Don Strength, White County Deputy EMA Director says most of that should be south of I-85.
The rainfall Thursday is the result of a front which will slow down and stall across central Georgia by late Thursday night.
Strength pointed out not a lot of rain is expected in our area but the National Weather Service says the rainfall will increase near the stalled front on Friday through the day Saturday as an upper level low approaches from the west. The rain should move out during the morning hours Sunday, but not before we could see a chance of frozen precipitation. An Upper Low Pressure system moving across the state late Saturday into early Sunday will create a chance of snow, particularly across northern Georgia.
According to Strength, Much uncertainty exists as numerous factors are in play for this potential.
A cold core upper low will be moving east-northeast along the Gulf Coast Saturday and into Georgia by Saturday night. NWS Forecasters believe wrap-around moisture on the north side of this upper low will bring the potential for snow, rain/snow mix, or a cold rain along and to the north of its track. The best potential appears to be Midnight – 8 AM Sunday. It will either be a very cold rain, rain/snow mix, or wet snow (no freezing rain or sleet based on the forecast temperature profiles).
According to the weather service Surface temperatures will be generally above freezing and into the mid 30’s. (except, in the mountains where accumulations are more likely) with highs on Sunday in the upper 40s to near 50.
Strength says this is going to be a very tricky weather forecast. Cold core upper level low systems can and often do bring their own conditions. He said, though this will be noting in comparison, 1993 was a cold core upper level low. At the moment, this doesn’t appear to be a major winter storm for White County but things could change quickly as we head into the weekend.
On a positive note, as soon as the low pulls off to our northeast, temps will rise and any frozen precipitation that does accumulate will melt quickly. This could literally be a 4 – 5 hour event.
Strength noted that you may see some Social Media posts of snow forecasts. He says keep in mind these forecast do NOT account for melting and what actually accumulates will be much less.
