Major (Possibly Historic) Southern US Winter Storm 1/28-30/2014

[toxictwister00]

An unusually far south section of the Deep South region is in for a memorable experience over the next 72 hrs. Winter Storm Watches have been flying up from Southeastern North Carolina, to South/Central South Carolina (This includes the cities of Columbia and Charleston), to Central/South Georgia (South of Atlanta metro; includes Augusta, Columbus, Macon), to Southeastern half of Alabama (includes the city of Montgomery), to Southern Mississippi to Eastern Texas! Even parts of the FL Panhandle may join in on the fun!

In my neck of the woods I'm too far north (heh, imagine that) I don't get to say that often.

Does anyone have any relatives or friends that will be affected by this storm?

Currently Active Winter Weather Bulletins Nationwide
http://www.weather.gov/

EDIT: To the mods/admins. if this storm gets named by TWC, feel free to change the thread title to said name if you feel it's necessary to.

[Eric]

Way too close for comfort for my tastes.  Daytona Beach is only going to have rain and chilly temperatures (but that's what we've had practically all month), but, still, the thought of winter weather in my state makes me nervous.

[toxictwister00]

Way too close for comfort for my tastes.  Daytona Beach is only going to have rain and chilly temperatures (but that's what we've had practically all month), but, still, the thought of winter weather in my state makes me nervous.

I can understand your discomfort on this, but I don't think you'll have to worry about any wintry weather in Daytona as it stands right now. Any wintry weather in FL looks to remain confined to the panhandle region. Speaking of the panhandle, WSW's have been extended to cover the western sections of the panhandle. It includes, but not limited to Pensacola, Defuniak Springs, and Marianna, FL. Some accumulations of snow/ice is possible in those areas.

[toxictwister00]

Winter Storm Watch has been expanded to include the Atlanta metro area now.

Accumulations: 1/2 inch - 2 inches forecasted.

[toxictwister00]

Most of the Winter Storm Watches across the Southern US region have been upgraded to Warnings this afternoon. Atlanta metro area remains in the watch category until further notice.

Now it's time to sit back and watch the fireworks.

[TWCCraig]

Congrats! It's your winter! 

The south needs the snow though, glad to see them getting some.

[toxictwister00]

Congrats! It's your winter! 

The south needs the snow though, glad to see them getting some.

Our 3 year snow drought will officially be over! Well technically it was over when the airport got 0.4 inch of snow on Thanksgiving eve, but whatever. Atlanta can finally use those new snow plows and salt equipment they spent 2 mil on after Snowjam 2011.

This is gonna be a fun storm to track, I'm concerned about the folks who will see more ice than snow along the SC/GA coast down into the FL Panhandle though. It won't be any fun for them.

I was just upgraded to a Winter Weather Advisory, but our NWS office said they will likely upgrade to a warning if totals exceed their forecast.

Ice Storm Warnings are in effect from Savannah to Charleston. Winter Storm Warnings were expanded eastward earlier today in the FL panhandle to now include the cities of Apalachicola, Panama City, and Tallahassee. WOW! 

This folks is a rare gem in the making.

EDIT: The 21z SREF model plume has my mean snowfall at 3.19 inches and one member out of 15 that gives me 12.11 inches, that's actually tamer than the 21z SREF model plume yesterday that had one around 20 inches and 4 or 5 around or above 12 inches!

[toxictwister00]

I forgot I made a snowfall forecast map earlier this evening.

[toxictwister00]

Upgraded from Winter Weather Advisory to WINTER STORM WARNING! YES!!!

"The current radar, showing any precipitation and it's movement over the past 2 hours. Intensity is indicated by the color code at the top of the screen."

[toxictwister00]

It's 22.6°F with Moderate Snow. The snow started around 11:20am and the ground is already white! We haven't even gotten into the heaviest precip off to our SW yet!

[toxictwister00]

All four of our local news affiliates (WSB, WAGA, WXIA, and WGCL) are currently doing wall to wall storm coverage, most since noon if not earlier.

The traffic is horrendous and comparable to what happened back in Snowjam '82. There are kids still stuck at school, most likely spending the night there, school buses are stuck in gridlock for several hours with or without children. Heck snowplows and salt trucks can't even get to the interstates because you guessed it: they're stuck in traffic too.

Roads have rapidly gone snow covered and icy since sunset. The traffic has been so bad that some of the news anchors at some of our stations were 2 or mores hours late getting to the studios to work on air. There's one reporter who was supposed to be on air at our CBS affiliate hours ago. She said she left at noon from Alpharetta and seven hours later she still hasn't gotten there yet!

[toxictwister00]

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE
GEORGIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY PEACHTREE CITY GEORGIA
RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
100 PM EST WED JAN 29 2014

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS RELAYED A

* CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE AT THE REQUEST OF THE GEORGIA EMERGENCY
  MANAGEMENT AGENCY IN ATLANTA GEORGIA.

* A STATE OF EMERGENCY REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR ALL OF GEORGIA DUE TO
  IMPACTS FROM A WINTER STORM ON TUESDAY THROUGH THIS MORNING.

* THIS MESSAGE REPLACES THE WINTER STORM WARNING THAT EXPIRED AT
  100 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON. IT WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON
  ON THURSDAY AND PRIMARILY PERTAINS TO THE ATLANTA METRO COUNTIES
  OF GEMA AREA 7. THOSE COUNTIES INCLUDE FULTON...DEKALB...CLAYTON
  ...COBB...GWINNETT...DOUGLAS...ROCKDALE...FAYETTE AND HENRY
  COUNTIES.

* A COMBINATION OF SOME SLEET INITIALLY FOLLOWED BY 1 TO 3 INCHES
  OF SNOW CAUSED MOST ROADWAYS TO BECOME EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS AND
  IN MANY CASES IMPASSABLE. THE ICE AND SNOW HAS BEEN COMPACTED
  INTO SOLID SHEETS OF ICE WHICH CONTINUES TO CAUSE TREACHEROUS
  ROAD CONDITIONS. HUNDREDS OF VEHICLES AND TRUCKS ARE STILL
  STRANDED OR ABANDONED ON PORTIONS OF THE INTERSTATES AND PRIMARY
  ROADS IN THE ATLANTA METRO AREA. ANY MELTING THAT OCCURS THIS
  AFTERNOON WILL REFREEZE TONIGHT AS TEMPERATURES FALL INTO THE
  TEENS.

* THE GEORGIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY REQUESTS THAT TRAVEL BE
  LIMITED TO EMERGENCIES ONLY FOR YOUR SAFETY...AND FOR THE SAFETY
  OF EMERGENCY OFFICIALS AND GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
  EMPLOYEES THAT CONTINUE TO RESPOND TO THE DANGEROUS IMPACTS OF
  THE WINTER STORM.

$$

16

[Lightning]

The forecast for this storm was a total bust. The snow we experienced here in Birmingham yesterday caught everyone unaware. People out in it were stranded and some left their vehicles. People had to stay at work overnight and children had to stay at overnight at schools. That isn't even all. It's been total chaos around here since yesterday.

[TWCToday]

Pretty awesome storm here in VA. 8-10in and a spot on forecast. It was a blast!

[Lightning]

Fortunately today, the temperatures are up into the 50s and that most of the snow and ice patches on the roads are gone. Yesterday morning, some places in Northern Alabama got below 0. We had single digits both Wednesday morning and yesterday morning. We also had single digits back on the morning of January 7th. Good riddance to January!