A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for north and parts of central Georgia late Friday into early Saturday. Low pressure will move across the northern Gulf of Mexico, bringing deep moisture to much of Georgia.

A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for north and parts of central Georgia late Friday into early Saturday. Low pressure will move across the northern Gulf of Mexico, bringing deep moisture to much of Georgia. / NOAA

Update 4:55 p.m.

Gov. Nathan Deal will declare a state of emergency for 79 counties at noon on Friday, January 6, ahead of a significant weather event.

Acting upon the recommendation of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, Deal is ordering state agencies to prepare for up to four inches of snowfall.

10:28 a.m.

Winter storm watches cover parts of Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas ahead of a storm system that threatens to bring a wintry mix of rain, sleet and snow to the South.

The storm system expected to move into the region on Friday could cause slick streets and highways from Texas all the way east to the Carolinas, forecasters said.

Even parts of the deep South — including Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama — are bracing for sleet or snow.

Light to moderate snow could extend from central Alabama to southeastern Virginia late Friday into early Saturday, the federal government's Weather Prediction Center said in an advisory.

The center said parts of North Carolina could get 4 inches or more of snow.  And there is "a slight risk" of 8 inches or more of snow in eastern North Carolina and southeast Virginia, it said.

Snow also is also possible in Atlanta, where snow and ice have jammed freeways in past storms. The National Weather Service projects that 2 inches of snow could fall in Atlanta, with slightly higher amounts in some suburbs.

Forecasters say they don't expect the worst of the wintry weather to strike metro Atlanta until after schools dismiss Friday.

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