At a Glance

Wintry weather can occur in the South when the right ingredients come together.Snow is not the only concern as ice is also a serious risk.It doesn't take a large amount of snow or ice to cause significant impacts.

Every winter those that live in the South wonder if wintry weather will impact their area because the impacts can be so significant.

But snow and ice in the South are not as rare as you may think.

Here are five key insights that'll leave you in the know about wintry weather in the South.

1) Three Key Ingredients

A few key ingredients need to come together for snow and ice to develop in the South.

Cold air needs to be in place first. This typically happens a few times each winter when the polar jet stream dives southward across the U.S.

Moisture is the second necessary ingredient for any precipitation to form. The ideal setup involves the subtropical jet stream moving over the South. This would then allow disturbances to track near the South, which provides the third ingredient of lift in the atmosphere.

Snow, sleet, or freezing rain can form if the air is cold enough close to the surface.

There are other setups that can produce wintry conditions in the South. One such scenario involves a strong low pressure system that develops near the Gulf Coast or off the Southeast coast. An example of this is the.

Common setup for snow and/or ice in the South.

2) The Prime Time For South Winter Storms

The first two months of the year are when winter storms are most common in the South. This is when the ingredients mentioned above are most likely to come together.

In some years, a cold and active weather pattern can remain in place over the East for periods of time. The combination of arctic air and an active subtropical jet stream can bring multiple rounds of snow and ice to portions of the South.

Snow can still occur in late fall and even in March, like with theSuperstormof 1993, given the right conditions.

Total snowfall from the March 1993 Superstorm

(NCEI/NOAA)

3) Season Totals Can Be Surprising

Many locations in the South experience snow on average at least once every other snowfall season.

However, the amount of snow that accumulates is frequently less than an inch. A few cities that see less than an inch on average each year include Charleston, South Carolina; Jackson, Mississippi; Montgomery, Alabama; and Macon, Georgia. These averages are derived from data for the years 1991-2020.

Over a season the snowfall totals can add up to a decent amount. Raleigh, North Carolina, receives 5.2 inches a season on average each season, while Nashville, Tennessee, sees about 4.7 inches and Atlanta measures just over 2 inches. The average snowfall is even higher in some higher elevation areas. Asheville, North Carolina, at an elevation of over 2,000 feet, typically receives 10.3 inches in a season.

Some seasons can be particularly snowy and many cities have tallied more than a foot of snow. Huntsville, Alabama, measured just over two feet of snow in 1963-64, and Nashville, Tennessee saw 38.5 inches in 1959-60. Farther east, Knoxville, Tennessee recorded 56.7 inches that same season.

As expected, snowfall totals are much lower closer to the Gulf Coast. The most snow in a season in New Orleans is only 2.7 inches, which took place in 1963-64. In Houston the highest seasonal snowfall total is 4.8 inches in 1973-73.

Average seasonal snowfall for selected Southern cities and the most date when at least one inch of snow was measured, as of Jan. 13, 2022.

4) Don't Forget the Ice

An ice threat comes along with the snow. Sleet and freezing rain are fairly common in the South, with many areas seeing wintry precipitation at least once each season.

The type of precipitation that ultimately falls is due to the temperature profile in the atmosphere. Snow happens when temperatures are below freezing both near the surface and above the surface.

But sleet or freezing rain can form when temperatures close to the ground are below the freezing mark and the air is warmer a few thousand feet aloft. Sleet will fall if precipitation refreezes before it reaches the ground. Freezing rain will form if it freezes on contact with a cold surface.

(MORE: 5 Reasons Freezing Rain Is the Worst)

The Piedmont of the Carolinas and northern Georgia are both areas where this can commonly happen. This is due to the cold air banking up against the eastern slopes of the Appalachians, resulting in cold air lingering near the surface.

Heavy amounts of freezing rain accumulations have historically been very impactful for parts of the South and led to tree damage and widespread power outagesin some cases.

Icicles form in an unusually chilly Charleston, S.C.

(Steve Colman)

5) Little Accumulation Can Bring Big Impacts

Significant impacts often happen even though most of the time the snow and ice amounts are usually on the low side.

This is partly due to the infrequent nature of wintry episodes in the region. Motorists do not usually have much experience driving in winter weather and most areas do not have a large fleet of equipment to treat roadways.

Consequently, roads can become treacherous quickly, so it is necessary to be prepared for dangerous travel and the closure of businesses.

In January 2014, parts of the South were impacted by one of the most recent memorable storms, , which left people stranded in vehicles across the Atlanta area.

Hopefully, lessons from past winter storms will help to mitigate future impacts.

In this aerial photo, abandoned cars at I-75 headed northbound near the Chattahoochee River overpass are piled up in the median of the ice-covered interstate after a winter snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014, in Atlanta.

(AP Photo/David Tulis)

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