Paulding County and other parts of Georgia could get their first snow of the winter and the year on Thursday night, according to the National Weather Service.
A strong low pressure system and ample Gulf moisture will meet, resulting in widespread rain and an associated deep cold air mass that will begin to spread across north and central Georgia on Thursday afternoon and evening, meteorologists said in a special weather statement issued Tuesday.
As a result, rain could change over to snow across parts of north Georgia, including Paulding.
Despite recent unseasonably warm temps, residents could see some light accumulations of snow across parts of north Georgia by mid to late Thursday afternoon or evening, mainly on elevated and grassy surfaces.
While folks as far south as a LaGrange-to-Athens line could see light snow, the best chance for accumulations would be generally north of the Interstate 20 corridor west of Atlanta and the Interstate 85 corridor east of Atlanta, an area that includes Dallas and Hiram.
At this time, no travel difficulties are expected, except for in the north Georgia mountains where there's a better chance for higher accumulations. But patches of black ice could affect bridges and overpasses from late Thursday evening through mid Friday morning when temps fall below freezing.
In Paulding, expect rain before 1 p.m., then rain possibly mixed with snow. The chance of precipitation is 100 percent, according to the NWS forecast. The rain and snow could continue Thursday evening when the low is expected to dip to 30.
Friday is expected to be sunny with a high around 51.
