Forecasters warn the rapidly strengthening system could deliver heavy snow, near-blizzard conditions, coastal flooding and renewed power disruptions across multiple Southern states.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A major winter storm is expected to sweep across large portions of the southeastern United States beginning Friday, bringing heavy snow, rain and dangerous winds to regions still recovering from a recent system that left hundreds of thousands without power, federal forecasters warned.
The National Weather Service said there is “increasing confidence for significant heavy snow across much of the Southern Appalachians, Carolinas, and southern Mid-Atlantic Friday into Sunday,” according to an update posted on the agency’s website on Jan. 29.
Winter storm watches were in effect Wednesday across broad areas of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. All 100 counties in North Carolina were under a winter storm watch, while much of northern South Carolina was included in the advisory area, according to National Weather Service maps.
The agency said the storm will first produce snow and rain across parts of the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley by Thursday evening, before tracking eastward through the southern Ohio and Tennessee valleys on Friday morning, according to a detailed forecast discussion. Snowfall Friday evening into Saturday is then expected to spread into the southern Mid-Atlantic states.
Forecasters warned the system will intensify rapidly as it approaches the East Coast, generating powerful onshore winds along the Mid-Atlantic coastline.
“This rapidly deepening storm system will produce powerful onshore winds along the Mid-Atlantic Coast from the North Carolina Outer Banks northward,” the weather service said, adding that wind gusts near hurricane force could coincide with astronomical high tides, resulting in moderate to locally significant coastal flooding.
Inland, the storm is expected to bring near-blizzard conditions to parts of northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. The National Weather Service said sharply reduced visibility caused by heavy snowfall and blowing snow could make travel “extremely treacherous.”
The system will also usher in another surge of arctic air. Forecasters said temperatures across the Southeast will plunge into the teens Friday night, including in cities such as Nashville, compounding risks for areas already struggling with ice-damaged infrastructure.
The warning comes just days after a winter storm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers across Tennessee and Mississippi. That earlier system brought widespread snow and ice across much of the eastern United States, overwhelming utilities and leaving many residents without heat during prolonged freezing temperatures.
The human toll continues to climb. Dozens of people have died in states affected by the bitter cold from Texas to New Jersey, according to officials. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a Jan. 28 post on X that the state’s death toll rose to 10 after three additional fatalities were reported. The same day, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a post on X that Kentucky’s storm-related death toll increased to 11 after a man was found dead in Livingston County.
Power outages remain widespread. More than 300,000 U.S. homes and businesses were without electricity as of Jan. 28, according to data from the outage tracking site poweroutage.us. The vast majority of outages were concentrated in Mississippi and Tennessee, with roughly 100,000 customers without power in each state.
Forecasters said the cold pattern gripping the eastern United States is expected to persist into February, raising concerns that the upcoming storm could further strain emergency services, utilities and transportation networks across the South.
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