Orange, Rutland and Windsor counties will have a winter weather advisory in effect from 9 p.m. Friday until 4 p.m. Saturday.
Over the course of Friday morning and afternoon, precipitation will change from rain to freezing rain to sleet then snow from the Great Lakes to the Ohio Valley and lower Mississippi Valley as the cold front marches eastward.
A band of freezing rain Thursday night will last for about two hours, followed by sleet with some snow. Hazardous travel conditions. Total snow amounts of 1 to 4 inches with light ice acccumulation.
"At press time, the transition - both timing and location - from rain to snow/freezing rain/sleet is hard to forecast, but early models indicate that some areas in OH could see up to 12 inches of snow, while other areas across the state could see up to 0.25" of ice accumulation.
After a brief respite from one of the most brutal cold-spells in Chicago history, the bitter cold, freezing rain, sleet and snow are coming back.
For the rest of the weekend, the forecast calls for a chance of snow showers Saturday morning with mostly cloudy conditions and a high near 19. For the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday, the high is expected to top out at 28, with a 30 percent chance of snow that night.
"Scattered power outages and tree damage are likely due to the ice", the National Weather Service said.
The counties under the winter weather advisory are Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence (a new addition early this morning), Limestone, Madison and Jackson. Temperatures will remain in the 40s overnight and will rise close to 50 by daybreak on Friday. Use caution when traveling.
The system will move out of the region by Friday evening. Along the southern portion of the storm, a dusting to a few inches might accumulate, but the brunt of the snow will fall farther north.
The National Weather Service in Paducah said west Kentucky and southern IL are getting a taste of spring temperatures this week, only to be followed by a winter storm. Low pressure is expected to develop along the front and enhance the precipitation across northeast OH and northwest PA.
Unseasonably warm temperatures and heavy rain could cause flooding in the Lower Hudson Valley on Friday. As always, locally higher totals are possible.
"Things probably will improve some, you know with road crews out and that kind of thing, especially on the major highways". Rain will become steadier in the afternoon and heaviest by Friday night with big puddles and torrential downpours for the evening commute. Even with the colder air arriving earlier and temperatures around freezing, it will take awhile for road surfaces to cool down given the recent warmth.
