To begin with heavy rainfall is forecast for much of Texas on Friday. Some of this will turn into wet snow in the Texas panhandle into Saturday morning. Through Saturday rainfall will affect much of the state of Oklahoma however later on Saturday will turn to snow into the northern regions.
Heavy persistent snow will is forecast for northern Arkansas and southern Missouri on Saturday with accumulations of 2-8 inches. The system will race through Tennesse and Kentucky on Saturday night bringing lesser accumulations of 1-4 inches. As the system heads towards the east coast on Sunday it will gain intensity. Very heavy and persistent snowfall is then predicted for a large portion of inland North Carolina and southern western Virginia with snowfall totals of up to 16-20 inches possible on the upland regions of the Appalachian Mountains within North Carolina and Virginia on Sunday however snowfall totals of 4-6 inches may spread out into the far south of West Virginia and east of Kentucky/ Tennessee, and potentially the far north of South Carolina as well through Sunday.
Winds will be quite gusty although not severe, so there’s the potential for some blizzard-like conditions especially on the Appalachian Mountains on Sunday however gusty weather is forecast to occur throughout this snow-system. Some snow drifts are possible, of 2-3 feet, however drifts of 4-8 feet are possible in upland regions of western North Carolina and Virginia that are most at risk from this storm.
Another issue will be heavy rain. There will be a lot of heavy rain in Texas on Saturday, rainfall rates of 6-8″ per hour are possible early on in the day for central areas as far south as Houston. Those rains are forecast to affect Louisiana later on Saturday. They will scour the Gulf Coast later on Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday giving heavy rains for the Florida panhandle and southern Alabama regions. Some thunderstorms or even tornadic activity can’t be ruled out. Especially on Sunday throughout central and southern Florida, southern Georgia and maybe south Carolina.
The “good” news is that a much less cold pattern is on the way. Temperatures are currently widely below average across the USA however once this winter storm has cleared less cold are forecast to spread from much of central and western Canada that will have above average temperatures from this weekend. Into next week those higher temperatures will become more nationwide. Much of the Mid West and Great Lakes will see a thaw and rise in temperatures through next week.