Some Midlands residents seeing snow

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — Winter weather has started to move into the Midlands of South Carolina. A Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect for Newberry, Saluda, Fairfield, and Kershaw counties until 7 p.m. Tuesday. A Winter Storm Warning takes over the entire viewing area beginning at 7 p.m. Tuesday until Noon Thursday. ABC Columbia viewers reported seeing mixed precipitation in Newberry, Saluda, and Lexington counties with more of a snow situation for viewers in Fairfield County. The cold air wedging into the state is causing moisture for the northern counties to convert into all snow. Given the developments, snow totals may be closer to 0.50″ – 1″ for those areas. Keep in mind that since surface temperatures are above freezing, most roadways should not be impacted at this point, though in an abudance of caution, some school districts may close Tuesday. Some sleet may continue to mix in for the central Midlands as we go through the morning hours Wednesday. Our main weather threat still remains with our second wave of moisture Tuesday night through Thursday morning. While snow is possible, it is more likely that we will be seeing freezing rain and sleet for most of the Midlands. Ice is a big issue, and we may be seeing accumulations at least 0.25″ – 0.5″ for the viewing area with more depending on where the freezing line is located. The freezing line is the cut-off point for seeing freezing temperatures at the surface. Traffic impacts for Tuesday night through Thursday morning is very high because road treatments are different between snow and ice. It is recommended that viewers are preparing appropriate food and other preparations as traveling will become a serious issue throughout the day Wednesday into Thursday morning. As always, you can stay tuned to ABC Columbia and online at ABCColumbia.com for the latest weather update, and you can follow Chief Meteorologist Reg Taylor (@regtaylortv) and Jonathan Oh (@johontv) on Facebook and Twitter for constant weather updates.