Winter Storm Watch 2017: Where And When Will It Snow In North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama And More

People living in the South may want to pull out their hats, scarves, gloves and boots after winter storm watches were issued in areas as far south as North Carolina to Alabama Thursday, according to weather reports. Southern cities including Charlotte, Birmingham, Atlanta, Greenville and Spartanburg are expected to receive heavy snowfall starting Friday, with some places expected to see anywhere between one and three inches of snow.

Winter weather advisories were also issued in areas in Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle, The Weather Channel reported. Weather reports said light snowfall began in parts of Kentucky and Tennessee Thursday from a separate winter weather system, which has mixed in with the southern winter storm. By Thursday night, snow is expected to increase and spread into the southern Plains in areas of the Texas panhandle, Oklahoma and Arkansas, and by Friday the storm will continue to move east dumping freezing rain or sleet in areas of Mississippi through central Alabama.

The storm will reportedly intensify in Southern states by Friday night with heavy snowfall expected in northern Georgia, upstate South Carolina, North Carolina and southern Virginia. Along with snow, the most southern parts of Mississippi, Georgia and North Carolina are expected to receive light freezing rain or sleet.

By Saturday, the winter storm will expand eastward, bringing heavy snow to parts of southeast Virginia to northern South Carolina, eastern North Carolina and southeast Virginia.

Snow is expected to stick in most areas, with some parts of central and eastern North Carolina into far southeast Virginia like Raleigh and Norfolk seeing as much as six inches of snow. Areas in the Texas panhandle into Oklahoma and western Arkansas may receive an inch of snow. Parts of Alabama and Georgia could receive about three inches of snow by Friday.

Winter storm watches for southern states are in effect until Saturday morning 9 a.m. There are chances winter storm watches may be upgraded to advisories by late Thursday.