Will it snow?  Will there be ice?  Those are the questions that are on everyone’s minds this morning.  It is beginning to look more likely that Chattooga County and Northwest Georgia may see some winter precipitation beginning sometime Saturday night and going into Sunday morning.

As always, the timing of the cold air arriving in our part of the South is always what determines how much and what kind of winter precipitation we get.

The chances of sleet, freezing rain or snow is a good time to remember what each of the terms implies.  The National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Georgia says:

Sleet occurs when snowflakes only partially melt when they fall through a shallow layer of warm air. These slushy drops refreeze as they next fall through a deep layer of freezing air above the surface, and eventually reach the ground as frozen rain drops that bounce on impact. Depending on the intensity and duration, sleet can accumulate on the ground much like snow.

Freezing rain occurs when snowflakes descend into a warmer layer of air and melt completely. When these liquid water drops fall through another thin layer of freezing air just above the surface, they don’t have enough time to refreeze before reaching the ground. Because they are “supercooled,” they instantly refreeze upon contact with anything that that is at or below freezing (32 degrees F), creating a glaze of ice on the ground, trees, power lines, or other objects. Even light accumulations can cause dangerous travel, while heavier amounts can cause significant damage to trees and power lines.  A significant accumulation of freezing rain lasting several hours or more is called an ice storm.

Snow. Most precipitation that forms in wintertime clouds starts out as snow because the top layer of the storm is usually cold enough to create snowflakes. Snowflakes are just collections of ice crystals that cling to each other as they fall toward the ground. Precipitation continues to fall as snow when the temperature remains at or below 32 degrees F from the cloud base to the ground.

WZQZ will continue to monitor the weather situation and bring you the latest information from the Georgia News Network, Channel 12 Meteorologist Patrick Core and the National Weather Service.