Over 12M in Southeast bracing for snowstorm; Charlotte, Raleigh under winter weather alerts – USA TODAY, USA Today

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             It’s been a wet couple of weeks for the South, but some wintry precipitation may arrive and cause trouble in parts of the region later this week.           Accuweather

A winter storm was forecast to bring snow to portions of the Carolinas and Virginia on Thursday, and over 17 million people were under some form of winter weather alert, including the Charlotte and Raleigh metro areas.

AccuWeather is predicting 1-3 inches of snow over a large part of North Carolina and southern Virginia; 3-6 inches is likely over the southern Appalachians and part of eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia.

The storm will bring dangerous conditions for drivers, CNN said, as black ice and snow accumulate on roads. Many school systems in North Carolina are closed on Thursday in advance of the storm.

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North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and state emergency management officials urged residents to be prepared and monitor local forecasts ahead of the developing storm system, which meteorologists said would begin as rain.

The National Weather Service in Raleigh Tweet that “the central NC snow drought should end at days today. )

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“Portions of North Carolina are forecast to get more snow today than Washington or Philadelphia have received all season, “CNN meteorologist Monica Garret said.

Winter snow totals in the I – 416 corridor of the mid-Atlantic are way below normal – 0.6 of an inch in Washington, DC; 0.3 of an inch in Philadelphia; 4.7 inches in New York City thus far, AccuWeather said.

But the snow will be short-lived. After the storm concludes early Friday, temperatures will be ideal for melting as highs climb into the upper s on Saturday, 71 s on Sunday and s on Monday, the Capital Weather Gang said.

While snow flies in North Carolina, much of the flood-ravaged Deep South will see a soaking rain on Thursday, adding to what has been one of the wettest winters on record in that region, the Weather Channel reported.

One wet winter:

More rain forecast for flooded South during near-record wet winter

Up to 1.5 inches of additional rain will fall over parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Southeast, the weather service said, which could lead to flash flooding in some areas.

Weeks of heavy rain have inundated a large portion of the southern US, bringing near-record flooding to portions of Mississippi and Tennessee. Jackson, Mississippi, was especially hard-hit as the Pearl River rose to its

third-highest level on record, flooding hundreds of homes.

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