On Donner! On Blitzen! On Dopey! On Sleepy! On…! Oh wait, never mind.  A low pressure center in the western GoMex is beginning to deepen rapidly and will bring an extended precipitation event for the State tomorrow. What flavor of precipitation you say? Rain and more rain except for the northernmost Upstate counties where 1-3 inches of snow will fall along, and north of a line through Wallhalla-Greenville-Spartanburg-York-Rock Hill. Can’t rule out some patchy sleet-rain mix over the northern Midlands counties, say: Greenwood-Newberry-Fairfield; no accumulation there though.  Expect rain to begin at 6 AM then transition to a rain-snow mix by 8 AM, then snow until 5 PM and flurries Friday night. The National Weather Service (Motto: “We work in buildings without windows!”) has a  winter storm watch for the northern Upstate and the mountains in the other Carolina starting early Friday morning until Saturday morning. NWS is going for 1-4 inches of Upstate snow. These events tend to produce bands of differing accumulation. Upstate air temperatures along the I-85 corridor will hover just above freezing all Friday and Saturday morning. Ground temperatures are still a tad warm for widespread accumulation and snowman manufacturing. Upstate sledding will be scratchy at best, but hey, this is South Carolina for Pete’s sake.

Coastal counties can expect rainfall amounts near 2 inches and horrible sledding.

Mark Malsick

Severe Weather Liaison

South Carolina Department of Natural Resources

State Climate Office

1000 Assembly Street Columbia, SC 29202

803-734-0039

MalsickM@dnr.sc.gov