Winter storm Cora A southern snow, ice threat

Winter Storm Cora will churn snow and ice across a large swath of the South from Texas to Virginia through Friday night, including from the Dallas-Ft. Worth and Little Rock to Nashville, Atlanta and Charlotte. The wintry mess is likely to snarl travel, and in some cases icing could be heavy enough to cause scattered power outages.

(MORE: Cora Maps Tracker | Winter Storm Names 2024-2025)

Cora’s latest status and alerts

The winter storm is starting to move into the western half of Texas this morning, producing a mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain, as depicted in the radar snapshot below.

This wintry weather will only become more widespread throughout the day as it moves east toward northern Texas, Oklahoma, southern Kansas and western Arkansas.

Various winter weather alerts, including winter storm watches and warnings and advisories are shown on the map below from the southern plains to the southeast. These winter warnings are in effect in Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, Little Rock, Memphis and Nashville.

Forecast Timing

Thursday

• Parts of northern Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, southern Kansas and southwestern Missouri are expected to see snow Thursday.
• A band of sleet and freezing rain may extend from central and northern Texas to southern Arkansas.
• Driving could be dangerous Thursday in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Little Rock and the Texas Hill Country.

Friday

• Any wintry precipitation in Oklahoma and Texas should end by noon.
• The snow will spread from the Mid-South region into Kentucky, Tennessee, far northern parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia into North Carolina and upstate South Carolina.
• Areas just south of this main band of snow could see a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain, generally near and north of Interstate 20 from Alabama to Georgia and South Carolina.
• This can lead to treacherous travel through these areas, with some roads possibly becoming impassable, especially in hilly or mountainous terrain.
• Metro areas that could see wintry travel conditions for at least part of Friday include Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Huntsville, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville.
• Lighter snow from this system could also ease travel as far north as the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes. That snow will spread into the mid-Atlantic and parts of the Northeast Friday night.

Saturday

• The storm will dissipate to the east, but some areas of snow may linger near the eastern seaboard, as well as in the Appalachians, especially early.
• Some light sleet or freezing rain may also linger early in the morning in parts of far eastern North Carolina.
• Travel can be challenging from snow and ice that has already fallen from the Tennessee Valley to the Delmarva Peninsula, especially early.

Snow and ice forecast amounts

• From northern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma to Arkansas, northern Mississippi, northern Alabama, extreme northern Georgia, Tennessee, and extreme western North Carolina, moderate snow accumulations are expected. In some areas, that means up to 5 inches could accumulate. Locally higher totals approaching 10 inches are possible from around Memphis west to Arkansas, southeast Oklahoma and far north Texas.
• South of there, the wintry mix complicates forecast snowfall totals, but an inch or two of snow and sleet could pile up in some areas near and north of cities like Atlanta, Greenville, South Carolina and Charlotte. Most of these areas will then likely change to freezing rain.
• Elsewhere, snow totals of a few inches are expected from southern Kansas and Missouri to the Ohio Valley and east.

(MORE: Why the snowfall forecast sometimes changes)

• Accumulations of sleet or freezing rain are possible from central and northern Texas to northern Georgia and the Carolinas, generally in the pink areas below.
• This will be enough to make the roads dangerous and travel is advised against. Additionally, there is a chance that accumulations of freezing rain could be heavy enough in places to cause scattered power outages in the Akr-La-Tex region and from around Atlanta to the Carolinas.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has covered national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him Blue sky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.